Phantom of the Spring
by twitch and spaz
Summary: Is she real...or isn't she? They say Sakura's dead but she's standing right there in front of me. SasuSaku
1. Taken Beginnings, Stolen Ends

**Phantom in the Spring**

**Disclaimer: general disclaimer applies. A warning: this contains mature themes. **

**Part One: Taken Beginnings, Stolen Ends**

It was on that day that Sakura appeared.

Or had it still been the same day? I couldn't tell as I was unaware of the sun rising or setting. But it had been in the dead of night when I saw Sakura standing there outside the small cottage on that day.

The day Orochimaru had performed the technique to take over my body…and failed.

The day my katana dripped with the blood of the snake sannin as I sliced his head from his body with a sadistic smirk. When I had slain Kabuto and countless other sound-nin before I burned down the base.

I never did like leaving loose ends.

It was the day when I had matched my own power against my 'sensei's' and had won considerably. It was when my curse seal was still thrumming with chakra and craving the spill of more blood, when my own blood poured direly from the gaping wounds down my back – Orochimaru's last efforts to save his pathetic existence, along with his dying screams of betrayal. Fool.

Even injured as I was, I knew I could kill her if need be. She was standing in front of a sound cabin I had used many times in the past.

I had thought while I was running from the burning sound base that this place would be the best place to rest and regain my strength – it would be unwise to let hunter-nin find me in this condition, after all. Those black-ops never seemed to be too far away.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, taking a step forward and instantly meeting the edge of my sword. Her green eyes widened as I stared at her with apathy.

"How and why are you here?" I asked in a deadpan voice that was more of a statement than a question.

She kept her eyes on mine when most would have been watching the blade at their neck. "It was only a rumor. There was a sighting of you here about two years ago…I was passing by so when I felt the shift in chakra…"

"You came to investigate." I finished, seeing how she nodded afterwards.

"You can check if you don't believe me. I'm on my own; I'd just been on medic duty at a local village about fifteen miles from here." She said and I easily read that she had told the truth. My eyes saw everything nowadays.

I narrowed my gaze at her, "Very stupid, Sakura…"

Sakura, however, just stood there. Not shaking, not doing anything at all as she shook her head, "No, it wasn't stupid. I found you on an off chance. That could never be stupid."

I chuckled as the pain in my curse seal was finally starting to dull, making me feel the full blast of pain from my injuries, "Even if you died because of it?"

She stared me in the eye, "I know you would never kill me. I'm not scared."

My red eyes narrowed further as I took a step forward and pressed the cold steel of my sword harder against her neck, "Is that so?"

"Yes," she breathed, "your still Sasuke-kun…you always will be. No matter what you say or do. It won't change. Not to me."

I glared at her indifferently as I felt a wave of acute pain stab relentlessly at my back. _'Damn it… I'm losing too much blood,' _I thought, feeling the liquid pool and slide down my back.

Her green eyes softened, "You're injured badly…who did that to you?"

I sneered at her, "Be quiet," my grip on my katana teetered until it finally slipped, falling with a thud onto the forest ground as my arm fell to my side uselessly.

Even though the curse seal was slowly becoming deactivated I still felt it's weakening effects draining my chakra supply until the familiar black marks started to appear. I grunted in pain and grabbed the back of my neck, rasping as I felt the curse seal urge and demand to be released once more.

'_Not again… I can't use it again so soon or it'll…' _I started when I felt her hands on my shoulders, not even realizing I was on my knees until she leveled down next to me.

"Sasuke-kun…"

"Get away," I snapped, nearly lunging for her as I felt the wounds on my back split open a few more inches. "Damn…it…" I swore, lightheaded from all the blood loss and the energy it took getting to this damned place.

'_With all the chakra it took to kill that bastard and all those other ninja…plus the amount used getting here on top of what my curse seal consumed my chakra levels must be extremely low. I'm in a dangerous position, vulnerable even, and Sakura blindly walked right into it.'_

As if in a testament, my sharingan bled back to black as another surge of pain shot through me.

"Please, Sasuke-kun… I'm a medic-nin – the apprentice of Tsunade-shishou! I can treat your wounds." She picked up my sword that lay beside her and, looking me directly in the eye, sheathed it in my scabbard hanging at my waist.

"Trust me," Sakura pleaded, "you know I won't try anything…"

My body began to feel like heavy lead, my arms and legs weighted down. The lightheaded feeling in my head increased to a point where I was dizzy and unfocused. I tried to move but was stopped as another wave of pain left me immobile.

At my silence and with strength I didn't expect from her, Sakura had pulled me inside the cabin, unclasping my sword belt as we slowly dropped to the floor in the bare, empty cabin devoid of any furniture. She got up immediately and scrounged the closets till she managed to find a few white sheets and blankets.

With a struggle, I tried to move but after several failed attempts I knew I couldn't. _'I can't even stand, let alone move.' _

I knew I'd die of either blood loss or chakra exhaustion if I didn't get help soon but that didn't make me less wary of the situation. When she asked me to lie down to treat the wounds on my back I refused. That would put me in a too much vulnerable position.

I would be sitting up or nothing at all. When I said this to her she had replied that she was a medic and just wanted to help me. With my persisted stoic refusal, she relented and got on her knees on the blankets and with a determined look etched on her face, she forced me forward to lie against her front as she ripped away what was left of my tattered shirt.

I knew I'd pass out soon but I rebelled against it furiously. _'Damn it…' _I cursed into my mind. I didn't know if it was luck or misfortune that Sakura was here and I was too concerned with my blackening vision to spare it much thought.

I was in the process of demanding myself to keep conscious and aware, but I had too soon slipped into a doze of unrest anyway as the last hours finally took its toll on my body.

Moments later, I snapped awake.

"What are you doing?" I demanded in a warning growl.

"Healing you," Sakura answered softly, her voice barely reaching above a whisper.

I was lying against her small frame, my head in the juncture of her neck as I breathed deeply, the inhale and exhale becoming easier with each second as her chakra poured into me. I was forced to note the inexplicable softness that pressed against my chest as I breathed.

"Why?" I rasped, shuddering every time her warm fingers brushed against newly mended skin. I clenched my jaw in exasperation.

"Because I found you." Sakura whispered, never breaking in the healing process as her own breathing started to become shallow. Evidence of how much energy repairing my wounds was consuming.

"I never asked for your help. Or wanted it." I spat, a dark anger forming at the way she was helping me. I never needed anyone's help or sympathy. Least of all hers.

'_Never again hers.'_

"My heart told me to help you…and so I did."

I blinked at her answer before scowling. She was too warm and I too cold. Her scent of cherry blossoms too familiar. It comforted when it should have scalded. Her body was too tiny… it felt like it I wrapped my arms around her she'd break.

Break and shatter into a million pieces.

My hands flexed at my sides.

And that's when she started humming. It was soft and low, a calming tone that would have made a small child fall asleep to. Her voice was full of melody and promised unspoken nurtures and safety. It's dreamy effect made me listen and still as it drifted by my ears and rhymed its why to my mind, relaxing, coaxing… I started to experience a lethargic state on mind and body I had never felt before.

As her green chakra continued to heal my injuries I steadily felt my strength returning and growing rapidly. It came to a point where I was able to lift my head from her neck and stare at her. Now, her body began to lean more into mine.

The fatigue of how much chakra she had used was evident in the way her shoulders dropped and how her pale skin lost another shade.

Her hand that was still on my bare back made its way up, up to my head as it came around. Her delicate fingers brushed my chin and strayed. Sakura flattened her palm against my face (not for that first time) and brushed her thumb against my bottom lip.

It took me a moment to realize she was healing my cut lip as I felt the skin repair and the discomfort cease.

Her hand began to slide away as I caught it with mine. My onyx eyes bore right into her emerald ones, locking them in a silent battle of wills, of hearts where one was alive and pounding, the other dead yet still performing its duty.

As black met green a weakness began opening slowly, cautiously.

It ripped apart in my mind and forced me to see how her pale strands of petal pink hair was brushing her bare shoulders, how her lips were soft and inviting and between a color both red and pink, how her long, smooth legs were curled underneath her with my own knees touching hers.

It showed me how weak she looked at that moment. How defenseless and vulnerable and utterly…warm.

Her deep emerald eyes stared at me with such honestly and hope it was nearly ridiculous and seductive all at once. And so after this realization and escape of weakness I knew there was no turning back. Not in that moment. Not in that instant.

A curve had formed in my path of revenge where my road met hers for one brief, silent minute. They intertwined and crossed and for that moment I would not, could not walk away from Sakura.

In my mind, it had already been decided and I couldn't back down. It was selfish and hateful and all my own.

Perhaps it was a merge of body and mind, where the weakness of my body eclipsed into the mind. No, not from my lack of strength. Never that. I am not weak. This was choice. This was decision, not indecision.

My grip on her dainty hand tightened as wide green eyes gazed into mine. I leaned forward and pressed my mouth to her palm, watching and waiting, but not for long.

"…Sa-Sasuke-kun…"

The breathless way she spoke my name made something foreign shoot down my spine as my gaze darkened, eyeing her evenly. I took her hand and moved, pressing it to the floor at the side of her hip as I loomed over her.

I did the same with her other hand as I captured pink lips in a kiss that held raw desire and heated want. I pressed her back into the cold floor, covered by musty white sheets.

Her innocent eyes stared stunned as I made quick work of her red vested shirt, moving in a precise, direct manner. Sakura's hitae-ate disappeared as well as her pale locks fell around her like a flowery halo.

I purged that thought from my mind as I crashed my mouth on hers again, dominating and unyielding with my tongue, forcing her to submit as she weakly responded.

But that didn't matter at the time.

Her hands moved to my shoulders as if to push me away before they slackened and fell back limply at her sides.

I broke the bruising kiss and tore through her chest bindings, leaving her upper body naked and making her gasp. I tasted everything, touching her small breasts and squeezing until she moaned and writhed.

A parade of dark thoughts and even darker inviting images came unbidden into my mind at the sight of Sakura flushed beneath me.

She was trembling when I pulled her shorts down, along with her white skirt. I ran my calloused hands down her slender legs, edging my way in-between as my need grew greater and more impatient.

I moaned lowly when I felt my hardened manhood brush her inner thigh and grabbed her hips urgently, moving her so that one of her legs was wrapped around my waist as I pressed her even tighter against me, not ever getting enough of the feel.

I felt her wrap her arms shakily around my neck, her fingers threading themselves into my raven spikes as she whispered my name in that same breathy way. A kiss she had pressed to my curse seal made me too aware of the foreign feelings shifting through me.

The need to take her increased ten-fold as I pulled down my own pants and boxers at the same time, groaning at the feel of Sakura underneath me. I kissed over the newly made red marks flaring across the skin of her neck when I entered her without warning, "Sakura…"

I pressed my forehead against hers and moved my mouth over hers as she cried out in pain as I ripped her apart and watched her break.

I sadistically studied how the tears gathered in the corners of her deep green eyes and licked them away as I moved inside her. "_Sasuke…kun_…" She moaned weakly.

When she shattered, so did I.

* * *

Afterwards, I stared down at Sakura's tired looking eyes. My arms were wrapped possessively around her waist and on impulse I pressed her tightly against me, it still struck me how fragile she was compared to me.

Her brilliant eyes slid shut, her fingers that had been endlessly running through my hair halting to trail down my back.

Most of my weight rested on my forearms as I watched her intently. This opening of weakness, this stray off my path would have to be closed and righted.

Those eyes were too alluring. Her breathy whispers of my name too addicting. Her warm hands and legs caused too much reaction from my own body. One that couldn't happen again.

He still lived. He still breathed. He still had to die.

Until he dies I can't live in soft promises and even softer eyes.

Sakura had managed to make a moment of weakness but until I completed my goal I couldn't let it open up any further. I would sew it back tightly, seal it shut until the day comes that I stand over my brother's cold, dead corpse.

If I still lived. If I still breathed. But it would be such – either I breathe or neither of us does. There would be no other way. No other outcome.

I stared down at Sakura.

No other path.

And yet… if I still lived, if I still breathed… this moment of weakness would be able to exist. It would be able to turn into minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years if she still wanted. If she still waited.

But until that time this moment would stand still, alone and isolated but never forgotten or regretted.

Sakura's sleepy eyes opened once more as she smiled at me, catching me staring at her. Guilt arose and seeped into a long dead conscience as I gazed down at her peaceful face.

'_I just took her without any thought other than my own selfishness. But stopping hadn't even been an option at the time. Even if I could turn back time, I'd still do it again.'_

'_If only I could…' _No. I pushed those burning thoughts away as I remembered brown stained floors and spinning red eyes.

Looking into her pure green ones it was hard to do that. She was dangerous, something I had realized when I left her on that bench three years ago. Sakura's words and actions were too convincing, too tempting to be ignored for long.

That is why she had to be avoided. Sakura had to stay far, far away. But for these last few seconds until my mental countdown ended, I would make sure to indulge and savor her weakened embrace.

Because, after that, she would again be nothing but a trace of memory haunting the back of my mind…like a soft hum sifting in and out…

I nuzzled her neck and nibbled my way along her jaw, using teeth to bite her bottom lip possessively as my eyes as black as my soul leered down at her. I memorized every dip and curve of her naked, unblemished skin as I traced and retraced my hands down every inch, my eyes watching her blushing response.

Her fatigued eyes lit as her bruised lips formed a beautiful smile that made the demons inside me shiver.

I continued to give her long, burning kisses that were more possessive and protective than I cared to let show as my mental countdown finished too soon, too fast for my liking.

But it had to be done.

I closed my eyes and gathered my composure as the rare, quiet emotions of want and need faded as I opened my eyes to stare at her blankly, emotionlessly.

It was harder than I anticipated but once the gaping hole she had ripped open was closed I felt secure once more. In control once more. Myself once more.

Sakura's eyes widened at my sudden stoic expression, "…Sasuke-kun…please…listen to me for a moment."

"No, Sakura." I curved my lips upwards to give her a smirk that was too humorless to be classified as one, "We already stole a moment."

Her fingers dug into my back – holding, keeping. "Then let's steal another," she whispered, pleading as jade orbs watered.

I shifted all my weight on my left forearm and covered her mouth with my right hand, "Don't. Go to sleep and then go home, Sakura." I closed my eyes again, "Don't come after me."

She whimpered as I felt her body tense under me. I stared at her again with half-lidded eyes, greedily allowing myself to drink her in one last time.

"Do as I say, Sakura." I ordered lowly.

'_You always have', _I thought absently.

Finally, the tears that had been threatening to spill slid down her cheeks like small streams. I lifted my hand from her mouth and raised myself to a sitting position, now straddling her hips as I scanned the room for my clothes and shoes.

I would not allow myself another tempting picture.

"I must come after you… and if I can't find you, then my heart will."

I stilled and narrowed my eyes down at a spot on the floor a few inches above her pink head, "Don't say foolish things."

Without wasting another second or indulging another thought, I stood and collected my things.

I slipped them on quietly with my back to Sakura, I knew after healing my wounds (which now felt like they never occurred) and then what happened between us afterwards Sakura wouldn't be able to move for a while.

Her body was much too fatigued and exhausted. It was underhanded to leave this way I knew but that couldn't matter.

I half expected her to beg me to stay, or implore me to wait or come back to Konoha, but she did none of this. Sakura merely lay there silently but I could feel her watching me. Expecting. Knowing. Accepting.

I paused at the door and allowed myself to look over my shoulder to see her lying on the bundle of blankets. Her eyes seemed so far away, tinged with sadness and…resolve…?

"Remember what I said." My deep voice penetrated the overwhelming silence between us. Without waiting for an answer, I left, vanishing into the early hours of sunrise.

* * *

Now, more than five months later, I stand in victory over my older brother's dead body. My katana soaked in his blood and protruding from his chest where it had pierced a lung, my right hand now stained with crimson when my chidori had torn right through his heart.

Ripping it out as it pulsed did not bring me the satisfaction I craved, nor did stabbing those mangekyou eyes until his eye sockets were nothing but a mess of blood and tissue.

My chest was shaking and I wondered why, but then I realized I was laughing. After all those years, all this time, it was finally done. Finally complete.

The dead whispers of revenge from my demised clan would cease, the honor of my massacred family restored, and the need to know if I was truly more powerful than my brother – if I could step away from his shadow and surpass him, was verified.

In a manic warped form of glee, I kicked Itachi's lifeless body as my laughing increased. My own red eyes glared down into my Nii-san's empty sockets with the knowledge that his eyes would never look down upon me with superiority ever again.

Itachi's container of power had failed him and mine had won.

I won…

My curse seal spiked with an onslaught of pain as I hissed, wincing as I held it and turned away from Itachi's corpse. That's right… my path to kill this man had been full of pain and sacrifices, full of torture and deals.

One such deal that would never cease affecting me, I noted coldly.

Even after Orochimaru's death, the seal still threatened to consume more emotions, more parts of me as if it were a never ending black hole that could suck up any part of me exposed to its wrath, until it took over me completely.

The threat hung in the air so it would never be dismissed.

I gasped in a breath, holding my broken ribs and surveyed the damage done to my own body.

Besides the ribs, I had a bleeding hole in my left shoulder and a large percentage of skin and muscle had been burned away on my back. Along with that, my leg was injured in a way that caused me to limp; though I wasn't exactly sure what was wrong with it.

I stilled and waited for something I did not know. After a few moments, a raw sort of panic crept its way inside my chest where it festered and spread.

'_No', _I thought, '_why am I acting like this? My goal was achieved! Accomplished.'_

Then why…I darted my eyes to Itachi's lifeless form and swallowed at the memories it brought forth.

It's what I wanted. Even he knew this would happen. He said so before he died.

But then why…why do I…?

I walked over to his body and studied it closely, as if expecting Itachi to spring to life at any moment and attack.

'_He's dead.' _I saw to that myself. Dead…

But then why…why do I still feel as if it's not over? Like it still continues. I shakily lifted my right hand that had ripped out Itachi's heart and stared at my bloodstained hand.

Why does my revenge… my thirst to kill him still thrive?

I watched as my shaking hand started to tremble even more as my breathing came in short, quickened pants.

'_Why hadn't it…why doesn't it fade…right? Why can't I rest?' _Why does it still feel as if his red eyes are still challenging me, why do I still feel like that boy who ran screaming and crying for him not to kill me…

Why do I still feel like I'm at his mercy?

"…_.revenge won't make you happy. Not you, nor I…"_

My fist clenched as I grasped the piece of shirt above where my heart was suppose to be only to feel it ironically pounding.

'_No…no…'_

"…Itachi," I said, wildly staring down at my older brother's corpse as I felt my inner panic swell and escalate. I kicked his body again, harder this time as I forced myself to sneer down at him, "Killing you did make me happy. It did!" I swore vehemently, watching the corpse as it rolled slightly away and then ceased.

My eyes narrowed in anger and distain at my own panic, "You deserve it for what you did to Kaa-san. To Tou-san. You deserved everything you got. And I deserved to be the one who made sure of it." I said, my volume increasing with every word until I was shouting at his dead body.

Realizing what I was doing, I took a step back and turned my back on my older brother's corpse again_. 'I don't regret this path_…' I reverently thought. I closed my eyes, I can't regret this. I won't allow myself to.

And so, I walked away into the willowed woods. Limping and putting one foot in front of the other again and again. The act of this, the motion was enough to direct my thoughts away from regret as my distress numbed my mind and fed into my curse seal…eating and eating away until I was nothing more than a wraith walking forward.

I didn't know where I was going. I have no sense of direction at all. It didn't matter. Things that mattered were…

… '_Sasuke-kun'…pink lips murmured against my neck as I lay against her soft chest, hearing the hypnotic drum of her heart beating, one, two, one…_

A distant pounding in my head surged through as I started and looked around at my foreign surroundings. It was around midday and I was in a forested setting, twigs snapping every few seconds under my feet.

How long had I been walking? I cringed mentally and limped over to a tree and collapsed, breathing heavily and blinking awake.

Judging from how I could feel the bones of my heel digging into my boots, I must have been walking for a long time. Days, even.

Sakura… would she have waited? Would she even allow my path to cross with hers again after everything? I leaned my head against the hard bark of the tree, listening to the wind as it blew past the tress, a light chill that signaled winter was on its way.

The sun beat down on me, even through the light shade of the tree as it's warmth seeped into my cold bones, making my stiff body loosen into a somewhat state of calmness…

"_Sasuke-kun…"_

I frowned and wondered for a moment if my thoughts of my former teammate had caused me to remember her voice… it must have been… I sighed as fresh blood trickled down my arm and dripped from my fingertips. I paid it no heed, I was so tired, all I wanted to do was rest and…

"…_Sasuke-kun…!"_

I snapped my eyes open – that had not been my imagination. I stared in front of me to see none other than Haruno Sakura standing there in a simple white dress. I creased my eyes to see if this was a trick of the mind but when Sakura was still there I leaned forward, startled.

"Sakura…!" I scanned her over and over again, wincing as I forced my tried, beaten body to stand against its will.

I gritted my teeth and held the hole in my shoulder, not being able to tear my eyes off Sakura.

"How…how are you here?!" I asked then took a step forward, "Fool! I told you not to come after me and you…" I silenced as I narrowed my eyes at Sakura, wondering if my vision was blurring or if I was close to passing out.

Because… something was wrong with Sakura. The edges of her slim body were unclear, as if fading in and out. In fact, her entire body flickered in and out of existence like an unsteady flame on a candle.

"…Sakura," I said again, making my feet move as I took another step towards her as she continued to stand there a few feet away.

This was not like Sakura. Usually she would have rushed over and begun healing my injuries, or at least have said something by now. Sakura wasn't the quiet type at all…so why…

I stiffened. Could this be a genjutsu? From who and why? ANBU, perhaps from some other village I pissed off? No, none of them know of her. Nobody does…unless this is a trap from Leaf? But… would they really use Sakura?

I know she would have just come to me herself, not make a genjutsu of herself – and Naruto and Kakashi would have just apprehended me by now – in my state I wouldn't be able to do much…

…then is she a hallucination? I traced my gaze up and down her form. It was possible from the amount of blood I must have lost…

"Sakura," I demanded again, watching as she gave me a small smile, "say something." I ordered, eager to see if she was indeed real or not.

The small smile she wore transformed into that same beautiful smile she would direct at me, _"I told you my heart would find you…if I couldn't…"_

My spine stiffened at her voice that was definitely Sakura – but it was off somehow. It sounded as if she was talking from a great distance away other than only a few feet.

She took a step back and nodded her head at me before turning and lightly running away.

Alarmed, I took a few steps forward and groaned at how painful it was, my head dropping into my high collared shirt as I looked up to see Sakura waiting a distance away.

She lifted her hand and signaled me to follow her.

I frowned at her actions, confused and wary of how this could be an intricate trap set by an enemy.

But…she was gaining further distance away from me now as I forced my body to walk after her, as fast as I could. I tried to keep up to her pace but every time I seemed to gain and close in on her she would suddenly appear an even greater distance away.

I struggled, panting and half yelling at her to stop as I tore after her through the forest. It felt like hours had gone by, ignoring my calls out to her before she suddenly stopped in the middle of a clearing.

"Sakura!" I shouted, breathless and rasping as I tried to keep my wounds closed and forced myself not to pass out as black dots appeared all over my range of vision. Finally, she turned around and faced me once more as I met her eyes again.

I dropped to my knees in exhaustion as I tried to regain my breath. Sakura turned her head to the side and gave me a small impish grin.

I was about to say something when out of nowhere two forms burst out from the other side of the clearing and shot across on either side of where Sakura was standing, nearly ramming right into her.

They stopped abruptly in front of me as two pairs of eyes glared down at me, one blue and the other black with one eye covered with a leaf hitae-ate.

Naruto glowered at me as he took a step towards me, "Sasuke…" He began, fisting his hands at either side of him, "I'm going to _kill _you!"

'_So Sakura lead me to them_,' I thought as Naruto swung back his arm and punched me clear across the face. I didn't have the energy to attempt to dodge after coming here as I staggered and gazed up at him blankly.

Naruto looked like he was about to go for me again when Kakashi stopped him with a hand and kneeled down in front of me, "Sasuke, how did you get those injuries?" He asked as I noted how worn the copy-nin looked.

At my stony silence Naruto seemed to simmer with unreleased anger while Kakashi just knelt there, "Then I can assume that Uchiha Itachi is dead?"

My eyes bored into his one visible one as I gave a curt nod, suddenly not giving a shit whether they knew or not.

Kakashi sighed, "I see…" If possible, he seemed to age a few years just hearing this information. I moved my gaze onto Sakura who just continued to stand there in the middle of the clearing.

Kakashi turned to Naruto who was still on edge, "Calm down Naruto, in his condition, he's not going anywhere." The fox boy then just stared at the ground, his blond hair covering his whiskered face.

I furrowed my brows as Sakura continued to look hazy and unfocused. Why? Why doesn't she just come over? Is she angry…?

'_She has every right to be…but…she's the one who lead me here…' _I thought distantly.

Suddenly Naruto grabbed the front of my shirt and dragged me up until I was standing eye level to him. My body screamed in protest but I bit my lip from showing any reaction to the slightest amount of pain as I reached up and grasped Naruto's wrist that was holding my collar.

"You're not even asking! Don't you CARE?!" He yelled loudly, his blue eyes pained and tormented as he shook me roughly.

I tightened my grip on his wrist as Kakashi looked away, "Ask you what?" I growled, irritated at this outburst and striving to move my uncooperative body.

Naruto grabbed my high collar with his other hand as well, "Don't you even see that Sakura-chan isn't here?!" He cried, shaking and trembling with rage and…sorrow?

Kakashi stood slowly, "…Naruto."

"No! Not until he apologizes – not until he realizes what happened when he was off in Sound!" Naruto shouted back, glaring me dead in the eye the entire time. My own eyes flickered over to Sakura and then to Naruto again.

Why is he acting so…dramatic and…

"She's right over there. If she doesn't want to come over then I can't make her." I stated tonelessly, glaring right back at Naruto and cursing my damaged body.

But then again, where else could I go? I had killed Itachi and now…now I wanted…

I want to… my gaze settled on my pink haired teammate standing alone in the clearing as her words echoed in my mind.

… "_Then let's steal another moment."…_

'_I want a moment to turn into minutes…'_ I thought, staring at her intently.

The breath was knocked out of my lungs so fast it left me gasping as I recoiled from Naruto's punch to my gut.

"How dare you," Naruto spat, his cerulean eyes flashing red with utter anger, "How dare you say that when…when…"

I groaned in pain at my broken ribs and rebounded with a right hook to the side of Naruto's head, but at my current strength it wasn't enough for him to release his grip on me.

"What the hell is that matter with you?" I growled as Naruto lifted his fist to punch me again but Kakashi decided to jump in and caught it before it landed.

"Naruto, he doesn't know." My ex-sensei stated as he tore Naruto off me and pushed him back.

"I DON'T CARE! HE SHOULD KNOW! He…she had been…" Naruto turned away and breathed deeply before sharply turning back to me again. With nothing to support me, I was barely able to keep standing.

My eyes widened a fraction to see tears collect in Naruto's eyes as he glared furiously at me. I once again darted my sight from a somber Kakashi, to Naruto, and then to Sakura, still standing so far away before I felt a cold, foreboding instinct cast itself up my spine.

'_What could Naruto get so upset about that he'd…?' _Tenseness settled over me, reminding me eerily of how I felt the day I was forcing myself to open the doors that I knew would probably contain my deceased parents.

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto began brokenly as I stared at him, turning to look over at Sakura again, and then returning my gaze back to him.

"Sakura-chan's…dead." Naruto whispered, tears now pouring down his whiskered cheeks.

Kakashi looked away as I stared at them both and slowly became aware that they were not joking. Even Naruto would never go this far with a prank.

'_But…can't they see she's standing right there!?' _I locked my gaze on Sakura who still had that small sad smile on her face. Her outline was still fuzzy, not entirely focused as she stood there in her white dress…wait…

'_Why is she in a dress? Shouldn't she be in ninja gear if she's on a mission? Where's her kunai, her hitae-ate, her gloves?' _

The wind picked up again as it blew past us, blowing black bangs into my eyes as they widened at Sakura. '_The…the wind! ...it!' _I took a step forward, now stunned as I realized Sakura's dress and pink hair wasn't being blown in the direction of the wind like it should have been.

That, instead, it just remained still…like she…as if…

I took another step forward and another as I continued; my heartbeat started pounding sporadically again. A ringing resounded in my ears that had nothing to do with my injuries as I staggered towards Sakura who still stood there, not making a sound.

'_It's…it can't be…it's…'_

"Hey…where are you going?!" Naruto yelled as I walked past him and Kakashi, not paying them any attention.

"Don't worry Naruto – he's not going anywhere. We'll take him back to Leaf just like she would have wanted…"

A choked cry came from Naruto, "She'll never know… my promise I – damn…!" I tuned Naruto out as the ringing in my head got louder.

'_Why are they talking like that? She's right here! She's right here… Can't they see her…?!'_

I was nearly in front of her.

'_She's not dead . . . no, Sakura can't be…'_

"…Sakura…" I stood in front of her now, breathing heavily from the forced excursion as Sakura's green eyes continued to gaze at me sadly.

'_She's real. She's not dead. She's standing right there in front of me…'_

I lifted my hand and reached out for her, intent on showing Naruto and Kakashi what they didn't seem to see.

My fingers reached for her shoulder and the distance disappeared and my fingertips passed right through her skin.

I sucked in a breath as I moved my hand sharply across her to see it faze right through her neck and face as if she was a…a…

'…_no, no, no…it can't be. This isn't happening. This isn't real. She's alive. This is just an illusion, a hallucination or – no, she's alive and breathing and…real, Sakura's real…!'_

The image of Sakura smiled faintly at the panicked look in my eyes, _"My heart has found you." _She whispered, it was so low and distant I barely heard it.

I sagged forwards, inwardly horrified by her words, by how real and not real she seemed, "…you're alive, Sakura," I muttered, more to myself than to her, "Where…where…"

The black dots that had been forming in my corners of my vision got bigger and expanded as my chest tightened and lurched at the same time.

'_She's not a ghost…she's not a ghost…they don't exist…she's real but that isn't real…'_

"…where are you…?" I breathed, on impulse reaching for her again only to watch my hand pass right through her.

Her green eyes shined with sorrow, _"I'll die when spring dies."_

With that whisper, I stepped forward as the pounding in my head reached its tempo and the black clouds in my sight expanded until I knew no more and passed out with one, fleeting thought…

'…_She's alive…she had to be real…'_

'_Sakura… isn't a ghost.'_

With one last distant yell of "Sasuke!" and the sensation of someone catching me, I lost consciousness.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Well, that's part one – I hope you liked it. Part two will be out soon, please review and tell me what you thought as I do love feedback.**

**Spaz**


	2. Drifting Petals, Fanning Flames

**Phantom in the Spring**

**Disclaimer: general disclaimer applies.**

**Part Two: Drifting Petals, Fanning Flames**

_One tap._

_Two taps._

_Three taps._

I blinked my eyes open groggily to see a white ceiling.

_Four taps._

"_Sakura-chan…She's dead."_

_Five taps._

I sat up instantly and immediately doubled over in pain, gasping and clutching my shoulder where my injuries burned alive. I looked down to see bandages covering the upper half of my body, layered on the severe wound in my left shoulder.

'_Where…' _My eyes darted around the white tiled room of what had to be in a hospital, scanning the ropes on my wrist and lower feet that bound me to the hospital bed. They were long enough so I could fully stretch out my arms. '…_is Sakura?'_

My gaze settled on the slouching form of Kakashi who was leaning up against the opposite wall of the tiny hospital room, his foot tapping a sixth time before it stilled against the flat wall.

"You're awake," Kakashi said simply, not moving from his position on the wall near the door. I tried to ease my breathing but it quickened just as fast when all of yesterday – or how long ago? – came flooding back to me.

"Where is Sakura?" I ordered, staining to keep my voice apathetic.

The silver-haired jounin closed his one visible eye, "We told you when we found you two days ago. Sakura…is dead." Kakashi moved his gaze upwards as I saw him tense, "She was killed on a mission."

I felt a distant pounding thud in my ears as I just stared at him numbly in disbelief. '_A mission? Killed on a mission…? But…Sakura was…she was…'_

Human, the brutally logical side of me implored, and humans die.

She's dead.

I fisted my hands in the blankets covering me. It…wasn't supposed to happen this way.

She was supposed to be alive when I killed him.

She was…Sakura was…

A distant sound of tearing cloth.

Gone.

"Sasuke," I started at Kakashi's voice and looked down at my hands to see the white hospital blanket ripped in two.

I un-fisted my hands that I noticed were unsteady – if Sakura was dead…then… I lifted my shaking hands to my head and squeezed my eyes shut against the aching memories of that night. Of that stolen moment.

'_Sakura is dead,' _I thought to myself, '_I nearly killed her once myself. I would have. And now she really is gone. Kakashi says so.' _

"Who…?" I pulled on my raven hair at my scalp to try to distract me from the sudden burst of too many memories, too many emotions, and too many weaknesses that should have not existed.

Kakashi was beside my bedside now, "We don't know. She just vanished four and a half months ago without a trace. Her mission had been a solo B-rank one but we couldn't find any evidence as to what could have happened anywhere. We've tried everything from tracking her scent to the Byakugan," Kakashi sighed, "It isn't like Sakura to run away, especially from her duties. It was later concluded that she was either abducted or KIA."

I tugged harder at the coarse hair on my scalp when I remembered how Sakura had run her fingers through it that night, "So…there is no body…"

"In a ninja's death, there rarely is."

A long period of silence permeated through the hospital room as my mind's eye flashed through images of Sakura.

'_Gone. She's gone.'_

My hands slid from my scalp and fell to my sides lifelessly.

But I wanted to…it was supposed…

… "_Sasuke-kun… I love you with all my heart!"…_

She's dead.

… "_I want to help you, please let me"…_

If she was gone, then she wasn't here anymore.

… "_I must, and if I can't find you then my heart will"…_

She was far, far away. _'Like you wanted, like you needed, right?'_

I ignored the distant buildup of pressure coiling around the base of my neck like a long cord growing and growing…

"Sakura's gone," I whispered out loud.

The cord snapped and released.

"Sasuke!" Kakashi shouted as I hollered in pain and bended over, yanking on my restraints as the curse seal exploded and released as it spread like a black fire, consuming, enveloping…

I immediately started on reflex to push it back before I stilled, not even hearing Kakashi as he frantically said something.

It was emptying, like a vacuum taking everything away…far, far away – even the numbness of the stunned disbelief, even the blur of pinks and greens that made the room whirl and spin on end.

I dimly watched as the skin on my arms became littered with the black marks of my curse seal and saw the pale skin become dark, tinting…swallowing….falling…

'…_does it matter of I lose myself now? Itachi is dead. She is dead.' _

The moment I stole that night with Sakura won't continue. The moment won't turn into minutes…it won't lengthen and push forward.

It'll stand still. Alone. Always alone.

I left her alone…that night.

She died alone.

She was even laid to rest alone.

…Sakura…

She didn't want that. She said she wanted to find me.

But I'm as lost now as I was before. Sakura isn't here to find me this time like she did that night. This one time…I…I wanted…

To be found. By her.

Only her.

Suddenly a slam came down hard on the back on my neck as I grunted in pain, my vision cracking for a moment. My eyes rolled to the back of my head as I fell back on the hospital bed. I saw Kakashi hover over me with a wary look on his masked face as people in medic uniforms flooded into the room beside him.

The effort of me keeping my eyes open was staring to drain me. '…_who cares anyway?'_ My heavy lids slid shut.

…but what did I see that day? I had thought she was there…

"_I'll die when spring dies."_

* * *

"_Sasuke-kun."_

Wh…what?

"…_Sasuke-kun…"_

…_Sakura_?

I blearily blinked my eyes open and tried to push myself up but realized I couldn't, I looked down to see myself bound in a sort of straightjacket. The roped binds from before were gone.

"_Sasuke-kun."_

My eyes shot open all way at that distant whisper and my head turned sideways to see…

"Sakura." I whispered, half croaking as I saw her standing there in that same white dress.

I focused on her, on how her pink hair and green eyes were gazing down at me with quiet emotion, on how she just stood there by my bedside with such grace and…lead formed heavily in my gut.

She had no substance.

Just like before, I realized, when I followed her into the clearing. The edges of her body were again blurred and hazy. Her eyes seemed deeper than usual, as if her soul in all its essence stared right through those jade windows.

I struggled to move, to touch her, to do anything but I was tied too tightly, limiting my movement. And so, I just stared at her. I tried to say something, anything, but I couldn't.

I didn't want to know. If I didn't know the answer than I could just pretend...

"_I'll die when spring dies."_ Sakura's whispery soft voice almost floated by on a gentle breeze, my eyes softened at the sight of her and I wondered if this was a dream.

If this was, then my subconscious is something I wish I could kill.

My mouth parted as I closed my eyes and opened them cautiously to still see her standing there. I let out a deep breath when I could see the closed door behind Sakura – right through her.

"A hallucination," I stated lowly, gazing at her with the now known fact that I had gone insane. Evidence of something that had probably happened a long time ago.

Sakura shook her head as my eyes widened, watching her small movement. My arms cramped with the need to reach out and the ever contrasting need of not wanting to know.

"…Sakura…please don't be dead…"

I had said those words before I could even decode their meaning. Logic and reason were things of the past.

She gave me that small smile again, _"I'll die when spring dies."_

Goosebumps arose on my skin, "Why do you keep saying that?"

Her figure flickered in and out of existence; her eyes were the only thing that remained constant. My eyesight was edging away from me again, for some reason it blurred and I had the notion that it looked like I had my eyes open under water.

I didn't want to know.

"_Sasuke-kun…"_

"Are you real?" I forced out against my better judgment, "Are you…really there?" I wonder what's more illogical – being insane and of course not knowing it, or realizing that you _are_ insane.

Sakura shook her head, _"No, I'm not real…"_ She breezily answered.

I swallowed, "But you're not a hallucination, either." She nodded once more as I felt the ground drop from under me. '_It can't be…'_ My eyesight worsened and split, bleeding red into the cracks as I squeezed them shut.

"…_Shh..." _Sakura whispered, raising her hand and clasping it to her see-through chest. I watched her as she laid her hand over the area where her heart was suppose to be.

I finally spoke what I didn't want to know, "…Are you a ghost?" I lowered my eyes at my subdued, hoarse sounding question. A tremor ran down my spine and shook my body, shuddering as an unknown pressure built its way like a dam in my chest.

When I was able to, I lifted my eyes to see Sakura with that sad, sorrowful smile on her pretty face.

"…_no."_

My eyes widened as her answer rang in my head like a death toll.

"N-no? You're…not dead?" I asked, bypassing thoughts of insanity for notions of a bitter hope.

"_I'll die when spring dies." _The ghost-like form of Sakura repeated.

What does that mean? She will die when spring dies…die? She can't die if she's already dead.

'_She's alive.'_

I struggled once more to sit up and found myself still as bound as ever in the straightjacket, I growled under my breath, keeping my eyes trained on Sakura.

'…_how do I know I'm not imaging this?'_ How do I know I haven't lost my mind? Even so, unbidden waves of relief I couldn't subdue crashed through me, making me take deep, shaky breaths to calm myself to a measure of ironic sanity.

"…How?" I asked, hating how weakly it came out, "How do I know I'm not hallucinating? Sakura… I don't want you to be…so I could just be…"

Imagining you there, my mind finished. Wanting you to be standing there so much my mind actually conjured up the exact image of you. Hell knows my psyche is damaged enough to do so, my nightmares are enough proof of that.

But if she was a nightmare – no, not a nightmare, a dream – then did I really want to wake up? If she was than it was because I wanted it to be so. Did I really want to wake up and find myself lying down in a hospital bed while Sakura was lying dead somewhere…?

I clenched my fists and tried to restrain my racing thoughts from marching any farther. Sakura had a solemn expression on her paler than normal face. She lifted her hand from her chest and I followed its movements as it rose above my head and inched downwards.

It dropped downer and downer till it was a mere inch away from my forehead.

"_Sasuke-kun…"_ Sakura called, moving her hand so her index and middle fingers barely traced my forehead from my brow to the area in-between my eyes. It left a cool tingle in its path as I shivered, keeping my eyes locked on Sakura's.

'_It's _real_.'_ It's not a hallucination. Nothing could be that vivid. That real. I had _felt _it.

"Who?" I demanded suddenly, regretfully making Sakura withdraw her hand back to her, "Who did this to you?!" My eyes took on a red tint, "What did they do to you – how is it possible?!"

Whoever responsible for putting Sakura in this wayward state would soon die. That was certain. No, it was simply a fact.

The thirst for revenge coated my senses, familiar and thriving in my avenger's soul, if I still had a soul at this point.

Sakura said nothing once more, fading in and out dangerously before gaining enough substance so that I could see a resigned look on her face.

The door burst open, "If you don't remember, you damn ANBU, he was in Team 7! And so was I! Also, you should respect the next Hokage! Remember that!"

Naruto slammed the door shut behind him as the fifteen year old Kyubbi container walked over sullenly to my bedside in long, determined strides.

"I have a few things I want to say to you," Naruto declared, not nearly as loud as he would have been in the past.

"Actually, I have a lot of things I want to say to you, Sasuke. But before I do, do you know what happened yesterday when your curse seal activated and you passed out?" Naruto questioned tersely, pulling the wooden chair in the corner forward and sitting on it.

He was actually now sitting right near where Sakura was standing.

He can't see her.

Why? Why only me?

She _is _real…she had to be…

At my silence, Naruto gritted his teeth, "Orochimaru's mark nearly consumed you, and if Kakashi hadn't used a temporary holding seal you would have torn through the hospital in that second stage of yours!"

That made sense, I suppose. "Hn…" I grunted, wondering how I was supposed to explain all of this and knowing I had to. What else was I to do? Let Sakura wander around in that apparition existence?

I sighed as I could see Naruto's temper flare, "And – you haven't said a word! Kakashi told me your curse seal released when he told you about Sakura's death – but you haven't even…_showed _any reaction! Don't you CARE?! Do you know how happy she was when we found out you had left and killed Orochimaru?!"

Naruto stood and shook his head, "Do you have any idea now much she cared about you?" He roared, "And to her memory your just lying there – don't you have ANYTHING to say?!" Naruto shouted, breathing heavily as he bowed his head to his chest.

"…when we found you in the clearing, we were tracking down Akatsuki, thinking they might have had a hand in Sakura-chan's disappearance. She had a hand in killing Sasori and they might have used her to lure me…

But Kakashi didn't believe that because he said they would have already made contact. We even thought you might know where Sakura-chan was but we found you half-dead." His head lowered even more, "…ANBU patrol found Itachi's dead body a two day walk from where we found you. You really did achieve your revenge."

At my silence, he laughed bitterly. "Sakura-chan… I made her a lifetime promise, you know. I promised her I'd bring you back home…" Naruto dropped into the chair again, holding his head in his heads.

"…it's not fair. Sakura-chan loved you. Really loved you," I looked away from him intently, "and now she's dead and you don't even look fazed." Naruto's shoulders started shaking.

I tried to turn myself away from Naruto and his words, not wanting to hear them. "…she always waited," Naruto continued, "she was so sure she'd find you…"

I saw Sakura's phantom figure by the window now and my throat tightened.

"…She was what held Team 7 together. Heh, she was the link, wasn't she?"

"Shut up."

"…at a time, during the chunnin exam, when you grabbed her hand to keep her from disqualifying you from the preliminary matches – I was half sure you had a crush on her."

I stilled, "Be quiet." I said lowly.

"You said, _'Not even you, Sakura.'_ I actually thought long and hard about it. It was the way you said it, I guess."

"Naruto…" I started, turning back towards him. "Just shut up."

When sad blue eyes met cold black they flared as he shot up from his seat again and grabbed the front of my white straightjacket. "You deserve to die for what you did! Don't tell me to shut up – I may not know the whole story with you and Sakura-chan but I do know that when we saw you for the first time in three years at that damn sound base, you tried to kill her!

I was there! And, the last time, she told us she saw you again – and I know you hurt her because even though she was smiling it was that damned sad one!" Naruto let out a growl of frustration, "I freaking HATE you for not caring! How could you not?! Sakura-chan… she practically waited her whole life for you!"

He shook me roughly as he continued, "And you never looked back at her – not once! She loved you and you don't give a shit - !"

I threw my head back and slammed my forehead against his so hard he groaned in pain and went flying back, dropping me back into a sitting position on the bed.

"SHUT UP! For the last time – don't talk about things you don't know!" I yelled back, angry and defensive.

Naruto's hand was rubbing his forehead as he stilled and looked out the window, suddenly very calm. After a while, he said, "Your right, teme, I don't know what happened. I don't know what exactly you felt in your cursed mind for Sakura-chan or what she was to you…"

My teammate of three years ago looked back at me, "But I do know that obviously," Naruto's blue eyes burned into mine, "It wasn't enough." He spat, "If it was, you would have been there when she disappeared. You would have been there when she was announced KIA after five months of turning the world upside down searching for her. You would be there today when Kakashi carved her name into the memorial stone."

Tears ran down Naruto's face as he turned around and headed for the door, "I've said what I came here to."

Sakura was gazing wistfully at Naruto before she turned back to me, dulling in and out before brightening again.

Naruto's hand was already on the doorknob when I finally called out, "Matte, Naruto."

Naruto stiffened and slowly turned his head back to me, "I don't feel like talking to you right now."

'_Right now'_ he says, like he still intends to later. I mentally sighed. Naruto was a fool.

Brushing those thoughts aside, I knew I had to tell him about Sakura – about what I knew.

"It's about Sakura." I stated tonelessly.

The blond ninja tensed and after a moment turned around, "What?" he whispered, sounding very tired.

Not knowing what else to say or how to phrase it, I went with the obvious, "She's standing right beside you."

A pregnant silence filtered through the hospital room as exhausted blue eyes gazed at me.

"Say something like that again…" Naruto broke off, "And I _will _kill you. I let it go before at the clearing because you were nearly dead and raving – but I won't stand for you dishonoring Sakura-chan's memory like that."

I continued to stare at Naruto dead in the eye, "I'm serious."

Naruto's eyes narrowed as his face contorted into one of anger, "What the hell are you going on about?! Are you -,"

"Sakura is alive," I said, cutting him off. "I don't know how or why but she is." I implored, narrowing my own gaze at him.

The next thing I knew, Naruto had grabbed my throat and started choking me, "Are you saying that Sound took her? That you DID have something to do with it?! You did, didn't you? – WHERE IS SHE?!" He yelled, shaking me as I choked and rasped.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Sakura come to stand beside Naruto, he green eyes shining with distress. Next thing I knew I was already shouting, "I don't _know_! All I do know is that she's standing right there but she's not real! She's alive somewhere but now she's not _real_!"

Naruto's eyes had widened when I began shouting at him. With a stare I couldn't read in his eyes he dropped his hands from my throat and took a step back.

"You're serious," Naruto whispered, shaking his head in disbelief.

"I said I was," I snapped, feeling an utter frustration surge through me once more because I couldn't move an inch.

Naruto's eyes looked wary now, "You yelled. You never raise your voice unless… You must think you really see her…. In the clearing you did look startled but…"

I sneered at the way Naruto's mind was working, "I'm not insane." I growled in warning. Never mind the fact that I had been in doubt of that presumption moments ago.

"And you don't even know it," Naruto concluded, "God, what did they do to you in Sound? Or – maybe it's just your conscience… then again, that's hardly believable…"

"Shut up, dobe!" I snapped angrily, "I'm not mad, I'm not losing my mind – I'm telling you the truth."

"What do you mean you haven't lost your mind?!" Naruto waved his hand to the area beside him – near Sakura – "You think you can see Sakura-chan's ghost! Or really _see _her!"

"Listen Naruto…" I began as Naruto glared.

"Why should I?"

"Because I can't do anything tied up like this! Listen… I don't know why you can't see her as well and I'm well aware of how stupid this sounds – but Sakura keeps mentioning how she'll 'die when spring dies'. I'm guessing that means when winter starts she'll literally die – but I'm not sure."

"Why the hell are you even saying this?!" Naruto hollered as I just frowned at him, "Say you can see," His voice faltered, "Sakura-chan's ghost-,"

"She's not dead-,"

"-Whatever! Why the hell would you want to help her? You've always hated her, haven't you? You've cut all the bonds between us and all that! What, now that your brother's dead we suddenly matter?!"

I paused and stared at Naruto for a long, tense minute.

What could I say? He was right, even though my mind found that simple thought distasteful. My gaze automatically shifted to Sakura and I knew my answer.

"Because, like you said Naruto, she's still smiling sadly… and she doesn't deserve to anymore." I saw that Naruto had followed my gaze to Sakura, even though he couldn't see her.

"I did shatter all my bonds with Kakashi and you…and especially Sakura. And, a part of me does…" I stilled, not being able to say anymore of that particular thought.

"During our gennin days as Team 7…" I continued lowly, "I was nearly convinced. It was so close. But, in the end, all I could do was follow my path. And now that he's dead… I don't know."

I stared at Naruto again, "I don't know, Naruto. All I do know is that you're wrong…I didn't hate Sakura...not really…"

Naruto inhaled in a sharp breath.

"- those are reasons that I won't talk about. I hated you too, at first, but you did eventually become the closest thing I had to…a friend. So you know, Naruto. You _know_…" I tersely forced out.

Naruto's lost blue eyes stared at me.

"Would I lie about this? Have I ever acted like this? Do you really think I would make this up?"

The fox boy's eyes lowered to the floor.

"Or do you think I'm just insane?" I deadpanned, nodding to my straightjacket. "I suppose the visual matches my words, doesn't it?"

Naruto sank back into the wooden hospital chair, his head in his hands once more as the filling quiet echoed noiselessly inside the room.

I moved my gaze away from him to Sakura who moved to stand beside Naruto's chair, as if to provide some comfort. I waited quietly as the minutes ticked by, until at least thirty of them had passed when Naruto's half whisper sliced into the silence.

"Prove it."

I glanced over to Naruto only to see his blond spikes covering his eyes.

"If I'm going to consider this…prove it." Naruto said again, resolute.

I stared at him mutely before focusing my full attention on Sakura. The Sakura phantom just stood there silently and after a few second went by Naruto looked up, "Well? Don't you have any proof? Say something that only Sakura would know!"

I glared at him, "It's not that easy." I said as Naruto crossed his arms.

"Why?" He demanded as I rolled my eyes and turned back to Sakura.

"Can you say something?" I asked listlessly, trying to prompt her to say something, anything that would get the dumb moron to believe me.

Naruto glanced at the spot I was talking to and shifted uneasily.

"…_he…told me his secret once…" _She breathed sounding even further away, _"…Naruto likes…feelings for…a girl named Hinata…"_

Her form wavered and completely went out for a second – I had stiffened in alarm – but, then she slowly started to come back, much duller and less dense than before.

"Dammit, Naruto." I swore, now not taking my eye off her for a second as Naruto jumped at my reaction, "She _faded_. I think it hurts her to talk too much… or it drains her energy."

Naruto looked thoughtful, his eyes darting between me and where 'Sakura' was supposed to be, "What did she…?"

I just shrugged, "Something about you liking some girl named Hinata," I narrowed my eyes. "Is she talking about the Hyuga?"

Naruto's eyes were wide with shock, "NANI?! How do you know those things?!"

I just stared at him blankly, "The whole point was to -,"

"I never told anyone but Sakura-chan that! Nobody!" The kyubbi container gasped. "Where is she?!" He jumped off his seat wildly, waving his hands around cautiously. "Is she here? Or here? How is she?"

I tensed as one of Naruto's waving arms nearly went right through her, "Oi! Watch it before you hit her, dobe." Sakura wore a light smile on her lips, her eyes on Naruto.

Naruto stopped, "Oh, gomen." Then he blinked and pointed a finger at me, "Why do you only get to see Sakura-chan?! What's up with that?!"

I sighed with annoyance, "I don't know. Like I said before she can't talk that much."

Naruto's nose wrinkled, "Can you blame her? Who'd want to talk to you?"

"Dobe," I muttered under my breath, "We need to figure out how she got this way."

Suddenly Naruto visibly paled, "Teme," he whispered, "what if you're talking to Sakura-chan's ghost?"

I shook my head, "She already confirmed to me she was still alive."

"How?"

"Never mind that. Listen, like I said before, she keeps repeating 'I'll die when spring dies.' Obviously, she can't die if she's already dead. She's alive."

"Spring…what does that mean? Winter starts in week, right?" Naruto's eyes became alarmed, "Does that mean she'll die in a week?!"

"Maybe," I concluded, "As I said, Sakura can't say much without draining or fading away. But, she could _show _me where she is. The only reason I crashed into you and Kakashi in that clearing is because I thought I was following Sakura. So she could lead me to where she is…physically."

"But who did this to her? This is weird! No, not even weird! STRANGE! I mean," Naruto's eyes watered, "You don't know how…relived…" He regained his composure, wiping his eyes with his black sleeve. "Can you ask her who did this?"

"I was trying when you came in."

"Oh," Naruto mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Aa," I sounded emotionlessly, lazily making sure my gaze was focused on the blurry image of Sakura.

"…but what are we going to do about finding her anyway? After you heal a bit, you're supposed to go on trial! A trial that could take ages because of all the politics and crap you did! How are we suppose to _find_ her, then? And in a week!"

" . . ." I looked to him seriously, "Break me out then. I'll escape and return with Sakura."

"…! What?! Are you crazy – I can't do that! I'll be killed and Tsunade - !"

"-Sakura will die if you don't."

At my acid remark Naruto looked like he'd been slapped across the face.

"Let…let me talk to Kakashi! He'll help – I know he will!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Do you really think Kakashi will believe all this?" I asked skeptically, "He'll only believe it's a ploy I created to escape the death penalty or imprisonment."

Naruto sighed, "Well…maybe." He affirmed reluctantly, "But we can at least try! Kakashi cares a lot about Sakura-chan – you don't even know the lengths he went to try and find her!"

I remained silent, thinking it over, "If anything, then we should at least come up with a plan if he doesn't believe us. Or me, in general."

"He should! Sakura-chan can just say something only he told her!"

"He knows I had contact with her a while back though. What if he thinks it's all scripted?" I asked flatly.

"_No."_

I started and stared at Sakura again who suddenly spoke up, "No?"

Naruto blinked and growled in frustration, "Argh, what's she saying? I want to see Sakura-chan!"

"Shut up, dobe." I retorted, waiting for Sakura to speak again.

"_I'll die when spring dies."_

"Yes…" I continued, "What does that mean? Come on, Sakura."

I knew after this that I would never tell Sakura to shut up ever again. Even if her constant chatter in the past was annoying, her silence was even worse.

She whispered something so weak I could barely catch it when I strained my ears to listen, _"…get Kakashi… I'll convince…he listens, he will…understand." _

"And if he doesn't believe us then we're struck, Sakura. What if he thinks it's a trick?" I said in a slightly irritated tone as Sakura just shook her head.

"I think we should listen to Sakura-chan!" Naruto spoke out, having been quiet before so I could speak to Sakura. "Besides, Kakashi'll know what to do about Sakura-chan's…condition."

Naruto shrugged, "He knows over a thousand jutsu's, right? Maybe he'll know this one." He explained.

At Sakura's nod, I closed my eyes in resignation.

"Fine," I stared down Naruto, "You have…" I trailed off in consideration, "two days to convince him." I finished, watching Sakura for any reaction to my proposal.

She gave none.

"Hey! What about you?! I'm going to need your help, you know!" Naruto protested.

I scoffed, "Kakashi will never believe me, Naruto – don't be foolish."

Naruto frowned in thought and sighed, "…fine." He muttered, shaking his head. "But I might make him talk to you anyways!"

With a huff, the Kyubbi container turned slightly to his right and gave a thumbs-up to the empty space where Sakura resided.

"No worries, Sakura-chan!" Naruto declared with his signature fox grin, a determined look making itself clear in his blue eyes, "We'll bring you back! That's a promise!"

Sakura beamed at him in response, bright smile lighting up her pale face.

With a firm nod in that direction, he turned to me – "That is where she's standing, right?"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at Naruto's lack of assurance after such a declaration.

"Dobe."

* * *

After trying to interrogate Sakura again and again about who had done this to her, I finally relented to her ethereal silence. She didn't say a word or give any reaction at all. Maybe she didn't want to waste her energy on such a thing (I had earlier finally confirmed with her that speaking did indeed drain her) right now, but I was still undeterred of its necessity.

Besides, when Sakura is back in her body I'll kill whoever is responsible for doing such a thing.

'_Why even do it in the first place?' _To torture her? My body went cold at that thought as red rage slammed through me. If that was the case, then the person who did this would suffer greatly.

I would make sure of it.

But that still didn't explain another matter – why was I able to see her and not anyone else? When I had asked her a little while after Naruto left she had simply smiled, not exactly an answer but not wanting to weaken her, I let the subject drop.

"Can you tell me where you are, Sakura?" I deadpanned, my pitch black eyes tracing her now expected hazy outline.

In response to our agreement beforehand (or signals really) that any question that she couldn't nod or shake her head as an answer to she would try to empathize with her see-through hands.

At this question Sakura pointed to the window, to me, and then to herself. She shook her head side to side in a clear 'no.'

"Do you mean the only way to get to you is me following you there?" I guessed, hating the constant game of charades when I just wanted to hear her _speak_ again.

She gave a small nod and I sighed. Of course that'd be the only way. I stared at Sakura who took a step closer to my bedside and tilted her head as she lifted her right hand and waved. There was a hesitant look on her white face as moonlight beamed right through her.

I frowned at her disposition and, noting the waving gesture, got a bit nervous.

"What's that suppose to mean?" I asked sharply as Sakura gave me that pained smile again. She tucked her hands to the side of her face in a sighing, sleepy manner and closed her eyes before peeking at me behind her eyelashes, watching to see if I understood her meaning.

"Are you saying your tired?" I asked blandly, stopping myself from automatically trying to straighten as Sakura's phantom form nodded happily.

"Bu – but…" I stiffened as Sakura's glowing eyes stared down at me. I forced myself not to look away and it wasn't hard, considering that I'd been watching her the whole day.

In doing so a lot of things had been made clear to me. Sakura, even a see-through one, was very…

I closed my eyes as I recalled that night and allowed myself to relive it for a second – to remember how she had felt underneath me, how beautiful she looked and how her delicate fingers traced up and down my back while her breathy whispers made me want her more and more…

I opened my eyes again, knowing that instead of dwelling on that night I should be confronting her about it instead.

"I…need to talk to you, Sakura." I said, still and resolute.

Sakura pointed to her mouth and shook her head.

"No – not talk, I mean I need you to listen to me," I responded quickly and with more impatience than I wanted as Sakura's bright green eyes widened.

I balled my fists, my nails cutting into my palms, "It's about that night." I said quietly, trying to filter a message through my empty sounding voice. Old habits were hard to break.

Especially since I had already lost so much of myself to the curse seal - I was aware of that and even though I knew I couldn't regain any of it back I accepted it quite easily. It was pretty hard to miss what you don't feel or care about anyway.

Besides, it made the things that mattered stand out more anyway, for better or for worse. I still had my Team 7 memories and even though I didn't give a shit about any other people in the damn village or the village itself other than the former, I didn't see how it mattered much. I still felt hatred, I still felt anger – but only guilt about one or two select things.

My conscience was probably obliterated during my days in Oto but I still felt the crushing burden of my clan's death, and right now I felt…

Sakura just stood there and waited for me to speak as she looked down at her blurry feet.

"Look at me," I breathed slowly, "I know I shouldn't be asking things of you but…" I broke off as emerald eyes slowly met mine once again.

"That night…it was wrong of me to – no. I took advantage of you and your weakness and your feelings… and used them for my own selfish reasons. That I won't deny," I said lowly, feeling my chest tighten as her pained eyes dimmed sadder, "but I don't regret it, Sakura. At that time, it felt like that moment was…"

I paused and said, "That night… Sakura, I…"

'_Come closer,'_ my mind begged desperately. '_Just a bit nearer_.' Remind me you're real and come closer… She might have heard my thoughts because she floated next to my head again as she leaned down slightly so we were face to face, a mere three inches away.

My hands burned to touch her as my eyes trained on her ghost-like state. She did not breathe, she did not blink, and she was there and not there at the same time. My throat went dry at the sight of her deep, spirited eyes but I forced myself to finish what I had started to say.

"…I didn't want to leave."

Her eyes softened as she gazed down at me, pink strands falling to frame around her misty face, the locks of pink would have been a breath away from my cheek if she had physically been there.

My admission had been an exposure for me, one even I couldn't completely hide as everything caught up to me. I just stared at her, waiting for her to speak this time. If she would.

"_But you did."_

I stilled, stunned with her distant answer as the door to my room slid open with a thud.

I ignored the doorway as ANBU filed in, opting to try to say something to Sakura who was steadily backing away from me as she waved again, nudging to the window once more.

"Uchiha Sasuke, we have orders to remove you from the hospital upon your release tomorrow and transport you to the Konoha prison where you will await a trail before Hokage-sama and the Counsel…"

I paid no attention to the rambling ANBU as my eyes were locked on Sakura, "Wait," I said, struggling anew against my straightjacket. "When will you be back… you are coming…back, you are – right?" I said, loud enough so that the ANBU stopped his tirade of a speech to stare at me curiously.

With a nod, Sakura wisped away and vanished, slowly fading out of existence until she was no more.

My panic overwhelmed now that I could no longer see her, "Sakura…" I muttered as my heart started pounding furiously. The ANBU began reporting to me again at my sudden silence, and I did not miss the look he threw his companions.

'_She's gone again. But she'll be back, right? She made it like she was going to rest or something…' _

'_She better be back_.' I tuned out the sounds of the ANBU leaving as I clenched my jaw, remembering her last words - _"But you did."_

I bowed my head into my chest as my raven bangs fell over my eyes. I knew what I was going to do. It had been a plan for a long time, anyway.

'_I'll give it to her…to Sakura. I need to.'_

But first… I need to find her.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Thank all of you so much for the positive responses! You don't even KNOW how happy it made me. Okay, what I didn't mention before it that this story will only have four parts to it – good for some, bad for others. Sorry if you don't like that but really with the amount of pages in every chapter it's pretty long anyways, ne?**

**Part 3 will be out ASAP. PLEASE REVIEW! I was actually sketchy about_ this_ chapter. Meh. SASUSAKU forever! Yay for my favorite pairing! Well anyway, please be sure to review! **

**Spaz**


	3. Silent Screams, Loud Whispers

**Phantom of the Spring**

**General disclaimer applies.**

**Part Three: Silent Screams, Loud Whispers**

I curled into a ball on the small cot that was probably covered in fleas. It was cold down here, that much was certain. With a glance I saw my jounin guard was still sitting outside my cell, deathly silent as I gazed at him through the steel bars.

I had been transferred from the hospital to the prison, since I was in a stabilized condition and it was too much of a danger to keep me there. There were no windows along the stone walls of my four walled cell, and there was only a small pot and a tiny chipped sink in the corner for bodily necessities.

I was informed I was in 5th level of Konoha prison, where they keep the most dangerous missing-nin that is most likely to escape. On my way down here I had heard the off key singing and coarse yelling of the other prisoners on the higher levels. As I went down further I heard screaming but on the last – my level – there was only chilling silence.

But what was the gravest matter – Sakura hadn't come back.

I had counted by five hours yet there was still no sign of her. '_What if it was all a dream?' _No. That was impossible – how would I have been able to convince Naruto? No, it happened. It was real.

But where was she? Why hadn't she come back yet? She said she needed to rest, but…

I gripped my knees – I was running out of time. Winter ended within the week and if I didn't get out of here soon, Sakura said she'd die when spring dies. Sakura will die. I wiped my sweaty palms on my grey pants that Naruto had left at the hospital for me and stood. Limping slightly, I walked over to the bars next to where the guard was seated.

"When is my trial?" I asked, forcing a monotone.

The jounin chuckled, "Sooner than you'd like, Uchiha." He turned around to face me and then the brown haired jounin gave me a grin, "I don't know about you, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for an execution."

I showed no reaction, "When."

The jounin's chuckling deepened, "Tomorrow."

'_Tomorrow…if I get cleared then that'd give me enough time to locate Sakura before the end of the week. Before winter starts…'_ What am I thinking? A trial of this nature would take ages, not be finished in a day. Even more so, I don't stand a chance in hell of being cleared. Not with all the crap I've done.

'_Maybe – maybe if I explain the situation.' _

No. No one but Naruto and maybe Kakashi would ever believe that I had 'contact' with Sakura who told me she was alive and that I conveniently had to find her before the end of the week. I snorted as I dropped back into the cot with a hidden wince at my injuries – they'd either kill me on the spot for my defiance or send me to an insane asylum.

Right now the only option open right now is Naruto talking to Kakashi so he'll believe me. If not, Naruto had already agreed to help me escape so I can have Sakura lead me to her body…

But to even do that – where_ is_ she?!

I drummed my fingers lazily on the lining metal bar on the bottom of the cot, my eyes and ears on constant alert for any glimpse or whisper of Sakura.

The steady waves of panic seeping into my system had not diminished since she vanished away from my sight. There were just too many possibilities that were running and kept racing through my mind. _'What if she couldn't appear before me again?' _What if she's really weak? What if she's dying right now? What if she won't be able to lead me to her?

"_Sasuke-kun."_

My head snapped up eagerly as I viewed the area of the dark cell. After a minute of dread, finally the image of Sakura started to slowly take form in front of my watching eyes. First it was in a blur of pinks, whites, and green. But then she gained more substance and took shape until she was clearer, steadier than before.

She smiled at me again as I gazed at her in relief, standing up quickly. Grateful that I could now stand and move around (even if space was limited), I walked the few remaining paces until I was standing right in front of the see-through Sakura. My hooded black eyes studied her evenly until I sighed, "…Are you going to do that again?"

Sakura's phantom figure clasped her hands behind her back and lifted her shoulders.

"Try not to." I ordered lowly, feeling the ebbs of pressure on my temples slowly fade away.

I tossed a glance at the guard to see him wrapped up in a book. With a muted glare at him, I faced Sakura fully once more. I lifted my hand towards her as I watched with a morbid lurch how my fingertips went right through her pale arm, and kept on doing so as I traced my fingers up to her shoulder.

It really was as if nothing was there, nothing except a tiny coolness – she wasn't tangible at all. Sakura gazed at me, shaking her head intently as if she didn't like what I just did. I retracted my hand quickly.

"…Gomen…" I muttered thickly, making sure to keep my voice lower than a whisper as I used the tingling hand that had 'touched' her to grip my injured shoulder that was starting to throb because I had been on my feet too long.

Sakura pointed to my cot and I nodded at her, stepping backwards until my knees hit the rim of the makeshift bed before sitting on it so I was leaning against the cold wall again. It was good that it was so cold; it kept me awake, alert.

"I never got to finish what I was about to say earlier," I began, keeping my voice down and regarding her green orbs carefully. "That night when we…I don't want you to think it was nothing to me…you, you said before that…" My eyes lowered to her stomach, a tenseness settling in my gut that didn't bode well.

"Who the hell are you talking to, Uchiha?"

I shot my eyes over to the jounin guard. He had turned around in his seat, looking at me suspiciously.

I glared coldly at him, "Don't interfere – I wasn't conversing with you."

The jounin's jaw dropped slightly but then clenched shut, "Listen you damn traitor, it is my priority if you've gone off your rocker. Or somehow talking to the enemy…" A pause, "Look at me when I'm talking to you, Uchiha!"

I didn't, instead continuing to watch Sakura who was looking away from me now. The tenseness I had felt intensified as I saw her eyes leave me. My black mood worsened.

"Did you hear me, Uchiha?"

I stood suddenly, stalking calmly over to the cell's bars as the jounin stiffened. When I came up directly in front of the guard's chair with my left leg I kicked the steel bars hard. It caused a loud clanging sound as the jounin let out a surprised yell and dropped out of his chair, staring wide-eyed at the dented bars that had missed his head by an inch.

"I said…" I growled in subdued anger, "shut up."

The guard shook slightly, giving me a wary nod as he backed away till he hit the opposite wall.

"You heard nothing." I said again, narrowing my onyx eyes at him in warning.

"No – no, I didn't."

I strode back to my cot, sitting on it once again and leaning up against the wall. Sakura had a calm expression on her ghostly face, her jade eyes once again locked with mine.

I won't risk talking to her again. I'll make sure to make things are clear to Sakura once she's back in her body – once she's herself again. Afterwards, I'll probably just end up in this cell again if it comes to Naruto breaking me out. Sakura communicated with her eyes that she also thought silence was the best plan for now.

I rested against the wall as I wondered if Sakura could sit down in that form…

"Hibiki."

I turned my head to see Kakashi coming down the hall, flanked with two ANBU behind him. I straightened as Kakashi now stood in front of my cell, his hands on his pockets of his jounin uniform as the two black ops hovered in back of him.

My jounin guard jumped out of his chair to his feet, "Hatake-san!" He replied with a bow of respect.

My sensei's black eye peered over to me indifferently, "I'm here to take Sasuke for his medical check-up."

"You, Hatake-san?" The guard Hibiki asked with disbelief. The silver haired jounin turned to Hibiki again, his gaze flickering to the noticeable dent in the steel bars of my cell.

"Hm, is there a problem?" The Copy-nin asked in a bored drawl.

"N-no, Hatake-san! Gomen." My guard amended, taking a set of keys out of his pant pocket and opening the many locks to my cell door. As soon as it was opened the ANBU that had been silently standing behind Kakashi marched in and dragged me to my feet, holding one of my arms on either side of me.

As we exited the fifth level of the prison I stared blankly at Kakashi, who was walking nonchalantly in front of me with a lazy stride. Had Naruto talked to him yet?

I turned my head sideways to see Sakura walking beside the ANBU member to my right; and she too stared at Kakashi for a moment before moving her gaze back to me with an imploring expression on her delicate features.

'_She wants me to take this opportunity and talk to Kakashi'_, I realized. She had seemed in favor of Kakashi helping us find her. But what could I possibly say? _'This is why I wanted Naruto to convince him…useless dobe…'_ I thought, inwardly frustrated.

We walked into the prison medic room. Shizune was there and walked over to me right away; gesturing for me to sit on the stool as the ANBU members forced me there and then proceeded to wait outside with a signal from Kakashi. The Copy Ninja opted to lean against the wall and pull out his ever present orange book with the familiar red warning label.

I sat on the stool stoically as Shizune re-bandaged my wounds and healed them, after checking them for signs of infection. I just sat there blankly and let her do whatever my injuries required; I instead trained my eyes on Sakura.

"Your wounds are healing rapidly, Sasuke-san." Shizune said, nodding to herself at her job well done as she finished the last bit of wrapping bandages around my left shoulder.

"Hn."

"…What are you staring at?" Shizune asked again, a note of concern in her voice. It was probably because my eyes kept following a pacing Sakura.

I didn't answer. I didn't care what the medic thought.

"Shizune-san," Kakashi suddenly spoke, snapping his _Icha Icha Paradise_ shut. "I need to have a word with Sasuke. Would you mind waiting outside for a minute?" He asked in his usual monotone.

I stilled, knowing what was to come as Shizune dumbly nodded to the Copy-nin and exited, shutting the door gently behind her.

"He told you." I stated apathetically.

Kakashi walked over to me and leaned up against a table in front of me, calm and collected.

"Aa."

My eyes narrowed on his, "Do you believe me?"

A lengthy pause shifted through the room as my former sensei stared at me silently.

"What do you think?" Kakashi finally questioned.

I glared harshly at his evasiveness, "I'm not lying."

Out of nowhere, Kakashi sighed, sounding very tired and aggravated at the same time, "Naruto said you told him that I'd believe it was a ploy for you to escape. And…I did."

"…You did?"

"At his insistence, I decided after sending him away to view the hospital tape recording of your room."

". . . !" I stiffened, "I was being _taped_?"

"Of course you were," Kakashi said vaguely, "you're an S-class criminal after all. It's a standard security measure."

I fisted my hands and regarded the silver haired jounin with measured irritation.

"After watching the tape…I deduced two possibilities," Kakashi concluded, lazily holding up two fingers. "One – that you're actually telling the truth and that you really can see an apparition of Sakura…or, two – your insane."

The Copy-nin looked away from my cold gaze, "There was no hint of you lying on the tape. Also, you have no reason to. This is too much of an outlandish story, especially for you. I…don't think you'd honestly use Sakura's death to achieve your own ends. Not like that."

"But you don't believe me, either." I supplied tersely.

"Hm. I've requested to have a psychologist examine you."

I stood from the stool I was sitting on, "Dammit, Kakashi – this is a waste of time."

"Naruto told me you thought Sakura had a week time limit…it was obviously on the tape, as well." Kakashi cut in as I glared at him angrily. "But even so Sasuke, you must know how this sounds. Especially after witnessing your behavior on the recording of your supposed interactions with Sakura…I'd rather have you examined."

My glare intensified, a red flash deepening in my eyes as a distant feel of indignation hit me hard at the fact that Kakashi and who knows else had seen some of those private scenes. I should have known better…

"Then you also know that it weakens Sakura to talk?" I said through a clenched jaw, not being able to mask my rage at the knowledge of people peering into my private conversation with Sakura, real or not.

"And how is it that only you can hear or see this invisible form of Sakura? I can't detect her chakra or presence anywhere – what makes you able to?" Kakashi prompted, his usual dull black eye narrowing slightly.

"I don't_ know."_ I said harshly.

"Hm."

I stared at him for a moment, seeing Sakura shoot me that same imploring glance in the background. "How do you explain how I knew Naruto's secret he told Sakura, if I'm supposedly just insane?" I finally said after a few seconds.

"You said yourself you had contact with her before she died, which I do wish to comment on, Sasuke."

"It's none of your business." I responded instantly with a glower.

"I beg to differ," Kakashi said in a severe tone, "when she came back her chakra levels were extremely low and she looked - ,"

"-Enough." I interrupted, "It's between me and Sakura. It has nothing to do -,"

"I disagree, Sasuke. I think this has a lot to do with the state your in now…maybe even Sakura's." Kakashi said silently, as if to himself. He pushed off the table he was leaning on and stood before me, straightening his usual slouch.

"We have a lot to talk about, Sasuke."

"No, we don't." I insisted coolly, "If you try to stop me from leaving to find her Kakashi then you'll only aid in her death."

Kakashi took a threatening step forward, "Watch it."

I noticed his angered front – nearly nothing could get pass the Copy-nin's hardened exterior but I wasn't his pupil for nothing. Inwardly, I knew the exact buttons to push and how hard to press.

"What, Kakashi? _Sensei_?" I said sarcastically, "Don't want to hear the truth? Worried it might be real? Well, it is." I stated firmly. "You know I wouldn't lie about something like this – about Sakura – and you must know I'm not really insane. You don't need a fucking examination – you know me well enough, don't you?"

I scoffed at his visibly angered expression, "You said yourself you'd never let another one of your comrades' die…but, right now you are."

I leaned closer, now noticing that Kakashi didn't tower over me now as he used to in my youth, "You're letting Sakura die."

Kakashi's hand shot out and gripped my shirt, utter fury was etched into his masked face as I fisted my right hand and swung at my ex-sensei in my own red rage. I saw Sakura frantically waving her hands in the background but was soon distracted by Kakashi's right hook to the side of my head as I fell back against the table, accidentally knocking over vials of blood samples as they fell and shattered onto the white tiled floor.

The blood from the vials spilled out and pooled in between Kakashi and I as we eyed each other. I started to see Sakura walk past me with a stern look on her face as she bent down and kneeled next to the blood spill, dipping one pale finger into the liquid red.

My eyes widened as I saw Kakashi out of my peripheral vision frown at my gaze's direction and follow my line of sight. Sakura was drawing a message on the white tiles of blood the floor.

I heard Kakashi inhale sharply as they kanji appeared in blood as Sakura drew it solemnly. When she was done, she raised her head so her pink locks fell away from her brilliant green eyes and stared at me intently as she once again started to lose substance in her ghostly form, fading in and out dangerously.

On the floor where Kakashi eye was locked, the kanji _'…HELP HIM…'_ was drawn into the floor. I gave Sakura a brief nod, studying her flickering state in alarm before turning to Kakashi again who continued staring at the kanji in muted shock.

"…Sakura…" Kakashi said as though it pained him very much.

I looked away, knowing he was watching me for conformation, and inclined my head, yes.

I heard Kakashi suck in another breath before a knock resounded on the door outside. The two ANBU from before opened the door, their white masks revealing nothing as they strode up to me and grabbed my arms in the same fashion they had done before.

I mentally cursed; of course this had to happen just when Kakashi had a chance of listening to me. And Sakura – she was staring at Kakashi sadly, her form still in-between bright and dull.

"Kakashi." I said, trying to get his attention as the two ANBU bowed to Kakashi and announced they were going to escort me back to my cell. Kakashi said nothing as they bowed once again and resumed dragging me out of the medic room.

I noted that Sakura was following dutifully behind me but Kakashi however just stood there, staring down at the message Sakura had made in a statue-like pose.

* * *

When they told me I had to appear before the court, I knew the trial had been pushed forward. For what reason, I could only guess.

What I had surmised was that this change of plans was nothing good from the look on my guard's face. Glee couldn't even begin to describe it. Not that I cared about this in the least – all I saw this as was a push forward in plans. Not a problem, but a remedy to all the time I would have wasted waiting for the real time my trial was supposed to commence.

At least now I wouldn't have to deal with all the bullshit.

With a covered look over to Sakura, I knew she would follow once more as they lead me out of my cell.

So, after being lead to the room where I would be judged by a number of ANBU (they had made sure to drain any excessive chakra and bind me with restrainers, cuffing my hands behind my back), I was slightly surprised to see only one thing – or person, really.

'_Kakashi…'_ I thought, dimly aware of all the other people who had suddenly zeroed in on my form.

The oval room was wide and spacious, and along the wall where I faced were high chairs and desks of the Council, with Tsunade in the middle. The room was bright and well lighted, making my eyes burn a bit when I looked up into the faces that would soon determine my fate. Well, supposedly anyway.

I regarded them coldly as the duo ANBU behind me brought me to the center where Kakashi stood and handed me over to my ex-sensei. Kakashi gave them a nod and they quickly dispersed, moving to stand near the exit. Kakashi then stood behind me, a hand of his gripping my left shoulder tightly while his other rested firmly on my head. I wondered briefly at this before he kicked the back of my legs, seemingly discreetly, so I was forced to kneel in front of the Council and Tsunade.

I kept Sakura in my sights the entire time, only relaxing slightly when I saw that she would keep still a bit away from me. Her green eyes were wide as she gazed up at the people that didn't even know she was there, let alone alive.

As Kakashi kept me in place and ignored my distemper, the council gazed down at me from their high seats disdainfully. The arched windows in back of them made them appear shadowed, so someone who didn't have the eyesight I possessed probably wouldn't have been able to see their faces clearly. I wonder if that was on purpose.

Tsunade, although she had a calm expression on her face, looked more than stressed with the way she kept narrowing her eyes.

"Kakashi…" I started in a low tone so only he could hear me, "what are you doing here?"

"Quiet." was all he said before he gave the council and attending Hokage a simple shrug. "So, have you decided Council-sama? Hokage-sama?"

If possible, the eyes of the council took on a deadlier tint as Tsunade coughed.

'_Decided what?'_ I thought suspiciously, turning my head slightly to get a look at the Copy-nin's masked face.

"Kakashi!" Tsunade exclaimed, "Do you realize what you ask? Uchiha Sasuke is an S-class criminal! A traitor to Leaf! And the apprentice of Orochimaru!"

"Well – not necessarily," Kakashi began carelessly, "he _did_ kill Orochimaru, after all so I don't think Sasuke could still be labeled his pupil…"

White eyes flashed from atop the council seats, "Your easygoing manner does not sit well with me, Hatake-san. You are an extremely well respected ninja in Konoha but in my opinion I do not think your proposal makes any sense."

"Believe me, Hyuga-san, I have considered every aspect of my proposal. And I am completely serious about this." Kakashi implored.

"…Matte…" They all glanced at Tsunade who cleared her throat, "Are you positive that the Uchiha has a clue into where Sakura-chan might be?"

Another council member immediately spoke out, "Tsunade-sama! You can't possibly be considering what he says? Don't believe that Uchiha – he lies! And Kakashi-san is just too blinded by his prodigy's words to know the difference!"

"Hatake-san knows better than that!" Said another male one, "Perhaps the Uchiha does know where Haruno might be!"

"Haruno Sakura is a prized leaf-nin – we should do all we can to get her back!" A woman cried from among the Council.

"But she can't possibly be alive – she was even announced KIA! Hokage-sama, with all due respect, I think the fact that Sakura was a student to both you and Hatake is clouding your judgment on what action should be taken."

"Yes! The Uchiha's execution!"

"I disagree," Another piped in, "Execution solves nothing and Uchiha Sasuke is fifteen, he can be reformed."

"Impossible!" said one earnestly, "Look at him, all those crimes and he doesn't look the least bit sorry! And now we're supposed to give him a chance to escape on the promise he'll bring Haruno Sakura – who's been dead for months – back? I don't think so…"

"What if he really does know where she is?" A female council member inquired.

"If he does then we should add kidnapping onto his list of crimes!" One snapped in return.

"Or bribery!" A member shouted back.

"That's right – besides, to a shinobi its their duty to work in order to provide for their village, if the Uchiha escapes on this escapade to save Sakura – if she's still even alive – then we'll end up with more problems than we started with. Haruno was a ninja, she'd understand."

"But she was a great asset to our village as a medic and as one who surpassed the sannin, our Hokage-sama! She has too much potential to just ignore when there is a chance we could help her!"

"That's favoritism!" They bellowed as more voices from the council vocalized their opinions.

"Enough!" Tsunade finally spoke out, earning immediate silence among the member of the council.

I said nothing as I glared at them all silently behind my raven bangs. _'This is pointless…'_ I thought, inwardly seething, _'they're all just going to turn this into one big political pile of nonsense while Sakura fades away. If things keep going this way then I'll have to get into contact with Naruto somehow and speed up our own plans.' _

Kakashi began speaking again at the sudden eruption of quiet, "I would only need a few days…if the information proves false, I accept full responsibility. But, I have attained proof that it is quite real…or at least real enough to investigate."

"Where is this proof?" An old lady that was seated asked.

I felt Kakashi stiffen slightly, "I can't show it before you," he said in his usual monotone but with a masked exasperated edge, "I can only give you my word, I'm afraid."

"Although Konoha owes you a great deal of debt, Hatake-san…I think you ask too much…the Uchiha is a first class criminal…" The old lady said sternly.

"I'm not asking for myself," Kakashi said, devoid of his normal lazy drawl, "I'm asking for Sakura…my student and comrade…" From the corner of my eye I saw Kakashi look in Tsunade's direction. "Surely you can understand that." He finished, staring the Hokage square in the eye.

Pain laced Tsunade's gaze before she quickly looked away, taking in an audible breath.

I looked over to Sakura who stared at her shishou mournfully, clasping her see-through hands to her chest as she remained standing a few feet away from me.

Finally Tsunade turned and stared down into my blank black eyes with a righteous anger concealed on her face. "I don't need Kakashi's word; his actions from the past and the present validate him in my eyes. I don't want nor need his word to know that he will do as he says."

She leaned forward, "I want your word, Uchiha Sasuke. Or is the word of an Uchiha still honorable?"

With my threatening glare, she continued, "Do you give me your word that Sakura is alive?"

At the mention of Sakura, my glare slipped into an emotionless shell once more. I gazed at the Hokage for a moment as the bursts of outrage from the council came forth and the warning increases of pressure from Kakashi's grip on my shoulder tightened.

"Hai."

Another minute ticked by after my answer that had now silenced the room, even though it was said in a low voice. Then Tsunade gave me a curt nod, "Agreed."

I thought things were over before Tsunade cleared her throat once again and started listing conditions of this retrieval mission. Kakashi seemed to expect this because he nodded and accepted whatever the Hokage decreed in a blasé manner.

"Kakashi," Tsunade then said, "you will take full responsibility for Sasuke and this mission. Sasuke," She snapped her gaze to me swiftly, "your life is now Kakashi's life. Act cautiously." She turned back to the council and gave them a stern stare, "I think you all would also agree that this is not favoritism on the least – and that we, as comrades, should be encouraged to do all we can for any ninja in the hopes that we can save their life."

She gave them a pause to soak in her words, "Don't you agree?"

With the mutterings of, 'Hai, Tsunade-sama' she fixed her gaze on us as I knew now she was going to act in a way that went in accordance to the council. "Kakashi, you will have exactly twenty-nine hours, or you and whoever else goes on this mission will be labeled missing-nin."

"Who else will go?" The Hyuga questioned.

"No doubt Naruto, Hyuga-san." Kakashi replied as I saw the Hyuga's expression turned distasteful.

"I will also send another shinobi to ensure the mission goes as planned. I realize the…significance of sending in members of team 7." Tsunade said delicately, "That is why I'll also be sending along my advisor – Nara Shikamaru."

The Council had the grace to look a little appeased.

"Then the mission will set out tonight." Tsunade announced, "I will draw up the paperwork and call for Nara right away." She settled her eyes again on mine distrustfully, "For your sake, Uchiha…it had better be as Kakashi says. If you don't walk in here with Sakura…then your life is forfeit." Tsunade declared, standing up.

"We will try Uchiha Sasuke again for his crimes when he returns in twenty-nine hours. Let this mission be a test on whether his character can be reformed or not."

With that, she nodded to the members of the council and then walked out through a back door behind her.

The hearing was adjourned.

"Arigato, Tsunade-sama." Kakashi said, pressing my head downwards, lower to the floor in a forced bow as I gritted my teeth and silently seethed, seeing Sakura's now mirthful expression on the side.

After every single council member filed out of the room, Kakashi pulled me up and grabbed my arm with a serious look, "Sasuke…before we leave on this mission, I have to ask if you have any idea how Sakura is…or how she was able to do that in the medic room? How did she even come to be in this state?"

I shook my head, "I have no idea, and Sakura won't tell me anything." I said with a tinge of bitterness and more than a hint of raw annoyance, "Do you recognize this at all yourself? It has to a jutsu someone had used on her…"

Kakashi sighed, "I don't recognize it at all. But I'm sure of we find her we'll be able to determine what they – whoever they are – did to her and hopefully reverse it."

'_As long as we do it within the week,'_ I noted to myself, gazing at Sakura blankly for a few seconds. Kakashi did pick up on this but did not comment.

"…You didn't need to do that." I said distantly, not really caring either way. But, this made things so much easier. Now all I have to worry about is finding Sakura – which should be simple as long as she can guide me to where she is.

"If you mean sticking my neck out for you in front of the Hokage and the Council…I didn't do it for you."

"I know."

"I did it for Sakura." Kakashi responded.

My ex-sensei faced me coolly, "After we come back, we have a lot to talk about."

". . ." I said nothing, half looking him in the eye as I gave him my full attention.

Black met black as his eye narrowed on mine, "Also, Sasuke…you do know that after this you are returning to Konoha, right?"

"…Hn."

Kakashi just gave me a dull stare before suddenly the door slammed open.

"-You can't execute him! He KNOWS where Sakura-chan is!" A harsh yell from what could only be Naruto shouted as he stumbled into the empty court room, save for me and Kakashi.

Naruto blinked at us for a moment as the door swung shut behind him. ". . .?"

The silver haired jounin gave a low chuckle that I barely heard before he looked at Naruto gravely, "Your too late, Naruto. They've decided to execute Sasuke and are giving me a moment to say farewell." He turned blandly to me, "Any last words?"

". . ."

"NO! They can't do this! – I won't let them!" Naruto cried in alarm, running up beside us frantically. "C'mon, Sasuke, we'll run while we -,"

With a glare from me Naruto shut up when I finally had enough and kicked him hard. "Ow! Dammit, teme!"

"Moron, Kakashi was joking." I said detachedly, wondering if Naruto had gotten denser over the years.

Stunned, my former blond teammate turned to Kakashi who was subtly scratching the back of his head, "Well, you had a very real reaction, Naruto…very heartwarming…couldn't help it," He added with a wink.

"Hey! ASSHOLES, that was low! I was really worried for a second there!" Naruto complained, crossing his arms in a sulking manner.

I rolled my eyes and suddenly snapped my full attention on Sakura who had stopped joyfully smiling at us and was now steadily disappearing. She stared at me wide-eyed, frightened herself as I walked over so I was standing in front of her corporal form immediately.

A panicked gleam took over her once relaxed green eyes as she stared at me, _"…Sasuke-kun…"_ She said frantically.

At her gasp, my inward nerves heightened, "What's the matter? Are you tired again?" I asked, eager to find out what was wrong with her besides the obvious.

She shook her head at my question, fear lining her face as she lifted her hands in front of her and watched them slowly then rapidly fade into nothingness.

"Sakura!" I said, now fully alarmed as Kakashi and Naruto hovered beside me with concern at my odd behavior and what might be happening to Sakura.

I saw tears well in her eyes as I fought the urge to touch her, if it wasn't for my cuffs or her see-through exterior I would have shook her, demanding she tell me what was happening. Now, her feet and all the way up to her knees begin to disappear as a strangled cry tore from her lips.

"What's the matter? Sakura…what's wrong…are you…okay…" I said, feeling useless as I watched her fade away once more before my very eyes. "Sakura! Say something!" I ordered – her legs were now fully gone as the nothingness slowly took over her upper waist.

"What's going on?" Naruto said, frowning worriedly at my expression.

"Sasuke?" Kakashi questioned, his own tone coated with concern.

My eyes burned into Sakura's helpless ones as I felt my stomach drop – even her eyes were getting dimmer and she said this wasn't like last time. She wasn't tired this time – she looked scared.

Petrified.

"Sakura!" I moved forward so her face was a breath away from mine, struggling with the cuffs until I felt a wet substance drip down my fingers onto the floor.

"_Sasuke-kun…I don't know…" _

Her whisper of a voice faded as the disease like nothingness spread all the way to her neck until the only thing clear was her teary eyes. _"Sasuke-kun…"_

I was the only one who heard her scream.

**

* * *

**

**A/N: The next installment will be the last! I'm sorry that this chapter was a bit delayed…it was unfinished for quite a while but don't worry I have slain Writer's Block and buried him in my backyard. No one will miss him.**

**Thank you for all the wonderful feedback!**

**Please review! It keeps me focused (which, I tell you is a lot)!**

**Spaz**


	4. Broken Soul, Searching Spirit

**Phantom of the Spring**

**General disclaimer applies.**

**Part Four: Broken Soul, Searching Spirit**

I scanned the surroundings with my sharingan, the steady increase of inner panic threatening to overwhelm me as I looked over to Kakashi.

He, in turn, turned to Pakkun beside him.

"Are you sure you can't catch anything?" The Copy-nin asked, hunched over his dog.

The nin-dog shook his head, "No. Her scent's been washed away ages ago." Pakkun said sadly.

"I figured as much," Kakashi replied, inclining over to me. "Sasuke, this is the area where Sakura was last reported seen at. However, this isn't going to help us if you can't….see her anymore." He sighed, "ANBU and even I have turned this area upside down – she is nowhere near here, if anything."

Naruto frowned beside me, "I still don't understand, what could have happened to her?"

I said nothing as Shikamaru snorted next to Kakashi, "Do you guys even realize what you're saying? Sakura – _see_ her? What are you even talking about?"

When no one answered the Nara, he walked over to me angrily and glared, "I don't know what your scheming Uchiha, but if team 7 thinks your story is real then you're all insane."

"You haven't been informed of everything, Shikamaru." Kakashi said in a low tone.

"Obviously," The shadow-user stated, "It was my knowledge that Uchiha had information that clued into where Sakura might be – but all I see us looking around for is areas where Sakura was last sighted." He glared again at that, "If this is just some cover for - ,"

"Shut up," I interjected coldly, "I won't waste time on you."

Ignoring how his face instantly darkened, I searched around the wooded surroundings once more. _Where could she be? What could have happened to her? _I felt more than useless, stuck in this inactive position when something disastrous was happening to Sakura_. If only she could appear again…then I could at least have some clue as to where to go, where to look…!_

But she didn't. And any trace of Sakura from the moment she disappeared was long gone, as Kakashi had said. Her scent, her footprints – everything.

I fisted my hands and stalked away into a nearby grove of crowded trees, intent on finding Sakura, even if I had to set fire to the entire forest.

"Oi, teme! Where are you going?!" Naruto called out, hopefully anxious.

I pointedly ignored him and heard the scrapes of footsteps follow after me.

I picked up my speed and tore through the acres of forest land, jumping to the trees above as I sped from branch to branch. My body was now moving of its own accord, following no clear path, no set destination as miles and miles of land was cleared in my hurried wake. I had to do something. I have to move…! I have to try, I got to find her, I have to…!

I stepped on another branch and felt a hidden wire snap soundly. Cursing that I hadn't seen it in my panic, I ducked the slew of kunai that sprang from the opposite tree as the trap was released. Evading them swiftly I jumped onto the tree mutely, staring as Kakashi, Shikamaru and Naruto landed on the same one further down.

"Whoa!" Naruto said, shaking his head. "Be more careful, Sasuke!"

"That's…odd," Shikamaru remarked with a slight frown, his brown eyes narrowing on the tree that had been tied to the wire from the trap. "Why would ninja set traps all the way out here?"

Naruto just shrugged, his frustration peaking. "It was probably just from a mission a while ago; most ninja don't usually turn around and clean up their traps."

"Hmm…it still feels suspicious to me." The shadow-user muttered.

Kakashi reached into his back pocket and pulled out a mission report and flipped to the back of the pages, "ANBU did put in as a side note that when they searched the area around where Sakura was light sighted, there was an unusual amount of traps set – a few even set them off. They didn't bothering finding out the range though. A past mission is what they also deducted."

My eyes cut across to the wire hanging from the tree, "A trap that could foil an ANBU member…a high level ninja must have set them up."

"So?" The Uzumaki concluded as he jumped over to the tree and gestured with a thumb at the unrevealed trap. "It's just a standard A rank one, hidden pretty good but really – see? The wire was carved into the bark and sealed inside, making it near invisible and undetectable. They teach every jounin this as soon as they pass the test."

"I've never encountered it before," I said darkly.

"That's because this type of trap is only taught to leaf ninja." Kakashi stated off handedly.

I inwardly frowned and jumped over beside Naruto, grabbing the thin wire as I inspected it between my fingers. My eyes widened a fraction.

"Nara, look at this." I ordered immediately, shooting a glare over to Shikamaru who scowled and, while saying a few colorful words under his breath, jumped over to me and examined the wire I held. After a second he grabbed it and ran his fingers along the length of it, murmuring something to himself as he swore again.

"You recognize it too?" I asked blandly, noting how Shikamaru turned towards Naruto and Kakashi.

Shikamaru held up the wire for them to see, "The Uchiha's right – this is medic's wire. Medic-nins used this type of wire to stitch up wounds when they run out of chakra, nearly all of them carry it in their medic bag. You can tell because not only is it thinner than regular wire, it contains less metallic properties and so it is not as sharp."

Kakashi inspected it at once before he glanced up at me, "What are you thinking, Sasuke?"

Naruto blinked when I didn't answer, the concerned look deepening on his whiskered face. "Do you mean that maybe Sakura-chan set up these traps?" He questioned with a curious edge.

"Why would she have needed to do that?" Kakashi mused, his brows narrowing at the puzzle. "She would have been close enough to make a break run for Konoha if she was being perused."

"What is she was injured?" I countered harshly, "Or even out of chakra?"

"Who says it's even Sakura-chan's!" Naruto exclaimed in a fit of anger, "That could be any medic's in Leaf!"

"He's right," Shikamaru replied, "the trap seems to be a good few months old. To know for sure we'd have to interview medics in Konoha that have been on a mission in the last few months in this area. Unless the medic hasn't been killed or is now on a long term mission, we should be able to find an answer in a week or two."

"Not good enough," I replied coldly, my black mood only worsening, "we need to know _now_."

Suddenly a loud crack resounded throughout the still air of the forest.

We all stiffened, keenly trying to listen for whatever had made the sound. It was too loud to be an animal, and from what I could tell it sounded like it was close by. _Could it be ninja? _I frowned deeply, knowing that we had taken measures to have this perimeter blocked off because of the imminent search for Sakura. _Could that mean…?_

If ninja are here, is this area, they might be the culprits…or at least have information.

I kicked off the branch and broke into a mad run in the direction the sound had come from. "Yo, Sasuke! Not again!" I heard Naruto yell from behind me, but once again I ignored him and charged toward the sound. I didn't have much time left. More importantly, she didn't.

"…_Sasuke-kun…"_

I started, stilling in my high speed chase as I abruptly tried to halt to a sudden stop. It didn't fair well, my foot slamming on the branch of the oncoming tree, slipping a bit and forcing me to grab to trunk to keep from falling to the forest ground.

I looked around me, scanning the area as I strained my ears in wonder if I had just heard what I thought I did. Was that Sakura…? I could hear the others catching up once more.

On a whim, I activated my sharingan and scanned the surrounding area again. My eyes widened at what I saw. Traces of thin green chakra floated by in the wind, just barely present in the air, like it was trying to form and gather yet failing miserably. Torn, my gaze now darted towards the direction where the sound had come from to the path that seemed illuminated with familiar green chakra.

My choice was made for me in the next second because form whence the sound came from, more sounds followed the noise, effectively breaking the silence. Kakashi, Shikamaru, and Naruto arrived just when foreign shinobi dropped onto the branches in front of me.

They were jounin – maybe even ANBU level at that from Stone, judging by the symbol on their hitae-ate.

"Well, look at that…" One of the five stone-nin commented, "If it isn't Uchiha Sasuke, the shadow-user Nara, the Uzumaki, and the famed Copy-nin."

"What a haul!" The other stone-nin snickered beside him, "If we bring in their heads we'll be in the history books."

"Tell me," the one in the back called, pushing his way to the front of the group. "What are ninja like you doing in our territory?"

Kakashi cleared his throat, "Your territory? And here I thought this belonged to Grass country."

The one that had to be the leader of the group scoffed, "Only to those who haven't been around in the last two months."

"Oh? Then tell me, have you seen a leaf ninja that goes by Haruno Sakura around here? It's very important so think hard. She had green eyes and pink hair, probably identified as a medic-nin."

"Sakura's missing?" The left one asked with a smirk on his pointy face.

"How long?" The leader questioned, "I haven't seen any leaf-nin prowling around here recently. I know she's your Hokage's apprentice so she must have been given a big search party."

Kakashi's visage darkened, "Four and a half months."

The one on the right snorted, "She's dead for sure!"

"It's not surprising," The leader spoke again as my patience rapidly waned, "you Leaf ninja are too trusting. If we had a kunoichi like Haruno we'd safeguard her more. You were basically asking for it when you sent her off on a solo mission."

"We never said it was a solo mission." Shikamaru interjected, his sharp eyes narrowing in instant suspicion.

The stone-nin barely shifted, "Yeah, well. We just assumed." The leader answered steadily.

"Quite an assumption." I remarked in a deadly tone.

The stone shinobi eyed me cautiously.

"We have been given evidence that proves Haruno Sakura might just be alive." Kakashi said, his voice hinting at a lurking hostility. "Which leads me back to my former question – have you seen Sakura?"

The instant my crimson eyes saw the leaders move slightly to the left in a nervous, guarded manner, I reacted immediately. Slamming the leader of the pack of stone-nin up against a tree that stood tall in back of him, my unsheathed sword was already in my hand and pressed against the leader stone-nin's neck. A thin slice was already apparent on his pale neck, a small drip of blood pouring from the cut.

"…Matte…!" The leader yelled, apparently scared as he eyed the katana pressed to his neck in a shaking manner.

The shocked yells of his group were quickly silenced by Naruto, Shikamaru, and Kakashi. With a glance behind me I saw that they had detained the other stone ninja as well, Kakashi holding down two by himself. With a brief nod over to them, I turned my attention back to the leader I had in my grasp.

"You better say what you know…unless you want to watch your team die one by one." I said blankly, my onyx gaze staring him down imploringly.

He opened his mouth, hesitating for a second. "I – it wasn't our doing! She - ,"

The leader's speech was broken off by my swift throwing of a kunai. It landed square in the forehead of the ninja Shikamaru was holding down.

"Dammit, Sasuke!" Shikamaru cursed, "Give him a chance to answer!"

"Out with it," I warned lowly.

The leader's eyes were wide with unhidden fear as he quickly rambled, "We – we were passing by and we saw something strange! We sensed sudden bursts of chakra so we investigated it and noticed…"

"Noticed _what_?" I spat angrily.

He spared his teammates a quick glance, "We – we didn't do it! She was like that when we got there!"

"What do you mean?!" Naruto snapped, stepping forward.

At the leader's frantic eyes, Kakashi spoke. "You better answer them now…or else I'll turn a blind eye to what Sasuke does next…"

This seemed to be enough to get the leader to speak.

"We were heading north! On an A rank mission, you know how it is…" At our dead silence, he gulped and continued, "Like I said we sensed the sudden bursts of chakra. Intrigued, we went and investigated because we noticed the chakra was getting weaker and weaker…then…we saw her."

I pressed the katana harder against his neck. It broke through another layer of his skin, causing more blood to freely run down his shaking neck. "What do you mean, you _saw_ her?" I asked, my emotionless tone from before dropping into one of red rage. "Where is Sakura? Is she alive…? Did you have anything to do with it? _Where is she?_"

I pressed the sword ever closer.

The leader's eyes closed in pure fear, "I'll tell you! I'll tell you!" he cried.

And so he did.

* * *

I leaped from branch to branch in the center of the crowded forest of redwoods. 

They didn't know.

How could they not be able to tell if she was alive or dead?

Awake or asleep?

Here…or not?

_Find her. Find her and you'll know everything._

Who took her? Who did this to her? Why? How?

Too many questions with no answers.

I had left Naruto, Kakashi, and Shikamaru behind as soon as the leader stone-nin had stumbled out the directions of where he sighted Sakura. I was faster than them. Too fast. At my current rate of speed, it'd take even Naruto at least seven minutes to catch up. Let them deal with the stone ninja, they no longer matter…_he was telling the truth. The leader stone-nin was telling the truth_. My red sharingan eyes flashed into the depths of the woods before me. _I can always tell._

I stopped at the end of the captain stone-nin directions, my heart beat increasing in a drumming manner when I brushed away the vines of a tress and stared down, mutely horrified, at the scene that lay before me.

Sakura was here.

The sun was setting, casting pinks and reds into the darkening sky. The last few sunbeams strayed onto the surface of the wide pond of crystal water that I stood in front of. I felt my heartbeat increase another notch, my chest tightening at the same time. I barely noticed the seals carved into the weeping willow trees around the small pond, how the kanji looked like it had been etched in blood.

The markings of a forbidden jutsu.

If I had torn my eyes away from the scene in front of me, I might have also seen how one of the trees' markings had been mussed – the characters worn out, as if someone had messed up the carving accidentally or purposefully. I would later find out that this was the reason Sakura had vanished. The stone-nin had unknowingly broken a part of her weaved spell.

But I was too wrapped up to notice any of this right now.

At the bottom of the pool, as if suspended by the many seals and kanji that littered the surrounding ground as well, was Sakura. Her pink tresses moved with the currents in the small pond that was about ten feet in length and five in width.

I stared at her small, pale body floating in the tiny pool with a mixture of shock, inward horror, and most of all an acute dread sensation that hit me right away from the fact that she could already be dead.

"Sakura!" I said, panicked and stunned as I dived into the pool and immediately came into contact with her protective seals that she had all around the pond and her body to keep her safe. I aimed up a right hand as I filled it with chakra and pounded it against her outer shield. It broke after a moment and then I tore in.

Water was already seeping in from the large hole I made as I collected Sakura, wary of how cold she was and just how long she had been sealed in this place…by herself.

_This is a self inflicted jutsu…Sakura did this to herself! Why? _What would make her do this? How was she able to do this…? The carvings, the characters…they were all written by Sakura. Her chakra alone, herself alone…

"You…idiot…" I said, half whispering as I shakily placed her on the ground and checked her pulse, pressing two fingers to her throat and moving so my head was on her chest atop her heart.

I let out the breath I was holding when I heard a weak, but steady, beat. I pulled her so she was in my lap, gripping her tightly as my mind got disoriented in all the racing thoughts and information.

Sakura had done this to herself.

Why? What could possibly make her do something like this? Why would she risk her very soul just to…I stilled when I remembered the last thing she said to me while she was still in her body. _"I must…and if I can't find you, then my heart will." _

I cradled Sakura's body closer as bitter anger rose up within me. I told her not to come after me. I told her…

I placed a hand on her smooth cheek and then slowly moved it into the back of her neck, sinking it into her pink locks. My hand at her waist slid to her back and began rubbing it slightly, "Wake up, Sakura." I said lowly, bowing my head into hers. "…Sakura, gomen. I should have…" I should have what? Done things differently? Made sure she wouldn't do something like this?

I silenced as a few moments drifted by. Then a tiny gasp made itself known to my ears as I stiffened and stared down at Sakura. She was weakly shivering and so I pulled her closer against me, giving her my body heat as she opened her green eyes and stared into my onyx ones.

The small, relieved smile that she wore next made me grip her tighter.

"Why…?" I asked, "Why would you do something like that? Your…so stupid Sakura…you could have died!"

At this, her smile grew. "To lead you back home…I couldn't find you…but my heart could."

"How…?" My voice was not my own. It was cracked sounding, breaking down the cold sound of it to reveal an undertone of utter relief, confusion, righteous anger, and… "Sakura…"

"I sneaked into the forbidden section where we store all the forbidden scrolls that contain jutsu. I got the idea at first from Naruto, really…we were reminiscing about the time he learned his favorite jutsu…how he graduated from Academy… I took a peek inside and read about a jutsu that was a _calling of hearts_. I only decided to finally use it after I met you…that night…it took me a while to prepare, though…its forbidden because it puts your body into a dead-like comatose state. Then...it allows your spirit to be realsed. I used my chakra that I had been storing for four months to enable me to do it."

"What do you mean?" I questioned, my mind running with her casual expalantion.

She smiled again, "The forbidden jutsu allowed my spirit to roam from my body. That way, I could find you and guide you back home…to team seven…to Konoha. To me."

What she didn't mention was the risk of losing her spirit. Her soul had a high chance of getting lost while searching for me.

I didn't know what to say. I had previously thought that I would lecture her and yell at her for doing such a crazy thing. But now, seeing her smile and watching color come back into her pale cheeks, all thoughts of scolding her left me.

I thought I had thrown it away, killed it. Ended it. But I was wrong, that night with Sakura – she had stolen it for a moment, weakened it for a moment and allowing it soak through – guiding it away from all the walls and all the demons.

That stolen moment was a stolen heartbeat.

But after that moment I threw it uselessly away again. Pushed it away so I could believe it was dead.

I closed my eyes for a moment, I could feel her chest rising and falling as my body sagged in relief. I wrapped my arm tighter around her waist, the other at the back of her neck as I tried to bury her in my chest as I pressed her against me.

"You're a fool…you could have died…" I shook my head as I firmly went on, "you…idiot."

She smiled again, her eyes sparkling. "I know, Sasuke-kun. I was prepared for that." She shivered once more as I pressed her body even more into mine, if that was even possible.

"Sakura…take it." I lay my cheek on top of her pink head, "I…need…accept it." Please understand what I mean…I can't say it. Not yet. But understand what I'm trying to say…

…take my heart…

"…you nearly did that day, but I tore it away before you had a chance…take it now…accept it now…" I whispered, aware of the desperate note in my hoarse voice and not caring.

I pressed my fingers into her back and neck, "Take it…"

She shifted and stared me in the eye. Tears fell from her emerald orbs as she wiped them away distracted, never breaking eye contact with me.

"Sasuke-kun, I'll accept anything you give me…" She wrapped her arms around my neck and embraced me tightly, "Anything, especially that."

I felt her eyelashes flutter against my cheek as I shuddered against her, the clashing temperatures making me aware of how close she was. Winter was coming.

"I love you." Sakura said softly into my ear as I dipped my head into the crook of her neck.

"I'll never give it back," I whispered into her neck. And it was true. I'd never allow her to have her heart back. Even if I did taint it and stain it…I'd never return it. Even if what I felt towards her was a negative love. One that was selfish and possessive and even hurtful and dark at times.

But…I'd never hurt her on purpose again. Never again. I don't want her to smile through pained eyes anymore. I want her to smile and laugh…

"I know you won't, you've had it forever." She replied, running her fingers through my hair. The feeling made me huddle against her, craving the comforting gesture that was still so new. _'She had done this that night, too.'_

Sakura giggled when I kissed her neck on impulse, right over her pulse. I looked up at her to see her beaming, "Stealing another moment?" she asked.

"No," I murmured before leaning up and capturing her lips with mine, "I'm stealing forever."

My phantom to guide me in the springtime…

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_I found you._

The End.

Spaz


End file.
